Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley continues his opposition to a restructuring of the U.S. Postal Service.
Merkley, a Democrat from Northeast Portland, delivered a speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate this week, focusing on first-hand stories he said he heard from Oregonians who rely on the Postal Service for everything from the delivery of medications to running small businesses to staying connected with loved ones.
“Postmaster Gen. (Louis) DeJoy labeled his restructuring plan ‘Delivering for America.’ A better name for this plan would be ‘Delaying Mail in America,’” Merkley said. “U.S. Postal Service leadership claims that downgrades won’t slow deliveries. But every delivery route will be slower if you add more than 500 miles to it.”
This is not a new fight. In 2023, Merkley co-wrote a letter to fellow lawmakers protesting “the impacts of the recently released Mail Processing Facility Review … recommending the downgrading of Processing and Distribution Centers (P&DC) in Oregon and Georgia to Local Processing Centers (LPC).”
Oregon’s Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Val Hoyle co-signed that letter, along with Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia; and Reps. Sanford Bishop Jr. and Austin Scott, both D-Georgia.
The letter claimed that Postal Service local processing centers are slower to deliver mail because they add miles to each route.
In May of this year, Merkley and a bipartisan group of lawmakers again called for a pause in the planned change.
Because of that, and Merkley’s work with Sen. Gary Peters, D-Michigan and chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the Postal Service paused planned changes to its processing and delivery network, Merkley’s office claims.
The pause will allow further studies by the Postal Regulatory Commission.
A report on the impacts of service downgrades in Oregon is expected to be finalized in the coming weeks, Merkley’s office said.
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