Rep. Bruce Braley Discusses Efforts to Stop Post Office Closures

Brandon post office one of 178 in Iowa that Postal Service wants to close

Brandon, IA – In Brandon today, Rep. Bruce Braley (IA-01) met with local residents and officials about the impact of the US Postal Service’s planned closures of hundreds of small town post offices across Iowa, including the post office in Brandon.

Last week, a US House committee – the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform – endorsed a controversial bill that, in part, allows the Postal Service to move forward with its plans to close thousands of post offices across the country, including 178 post offices in Iowa. Braley is a member of the panel, and opposed the bill. The bill, known as the Postal Reform Act, now must be approved by the full US House.

“I grew up in a small town like Brandon, and I know how important post offices are to these communities,” Braley said. “It may not seem like much to a bureaucrat in Washington, but a post office is the centerpiece of a small town.

“No question, the Postal Service needs to change to survive. But it doesn’t have to build its recovery on the backs of small town Americans. That’s why I’m working to improve this bill and prevent post office closures in Iowa.”

The post office in Brandon is on a list of post offices being studied for closure by the US Postal Service. Braley has been working for months to prevent the possible closures.

Braley successfully amended the Postal Reform Act last week to require the Postal Service to report on the number of jobs eliminated by their proposed post office closures, including the number of veterans jobs affected.

The Postal Reform Act:

Allows the Postal Service to eliminate Saturday delivery.
Establishes a commission to close post offices and postal facilities.
Reduces rural mail delivery.
Allows the Postal Service to sell advertising space on property and vehicles.
Allows the Postal Service to raise the price of bulk mail delivery. 

Braley has sponsored an alternative postal reorganization plan that would prevent post office closures by allowing the Postal Service to reclaim billions of dollars in overpayments it has made in recent years to its employees’ retirement system.

2 Responses to "Rep. Bruce Braley Discusses Efforts to Stop Post Office Closures"

  1. I agree! If people would just stop and think for a minute and ask the question, why would you cut off your revenue sources? Makes me think that the pmg is being coerced into carrying out these attacks on this great institution by outside forces that want to PRIVATIZE the USPS. The same type activity was present during the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (MMA), the federal law of the United States, enacted in 2003. It produced the largest overhaul of in the public health program’s 38-year history and benefited the special interest groups that lobbied for the pharmaceutical industry and benefitted even more some of the soon to retire capitol hill lawmakers. Check the board of directors and shareholder list of some of the major pharmaceutical industry players and you will see many former lawmakers on these list are employed as lobbyist and advisers. Wonder how that happened? (Do you smell a rat?) The same is about to happen to the USPS. Congressional interference and the pmg are making every effort to hand the USPS over to the private sector. That will be the only way that this pmg, some board of postal governors members and other senior managers can continue to legally enjoy the financial benefits and gains that that they have today.

  2. I work in wisconsin at a post office that they are moving carriers to another city. It is only a matter of time before they close our post office completely. I think its a travesty to do this to a good post office one which helps the community bring in people to businesses that are down town. We are going to be packed into a Post office that is leased not owned like ours is. It is going to be utter chaos for the carriers let alone the clerks that are left behind not knowing what is going to happen to them.. There are better ways to do things then what the postal service is doing. They are closing places which are bringing in revenue. This is not the way to survive in this economy you need exposure. Now they are making it harder for people to go to the post offices. Older people do not want to drive all over to get to a post office. They want it local. The post office is cutting their own throats which makes me wonder do they really want to save us or go under. Thank you kathy gatza

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