{"id":16581,"date":"2016-10-12T08:47:16","date_gmt":"2016-10-12T13:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=16581"},"modified":"2016-10-12T08:49:12","modified_gmt":"2016-10-12T13:49:12","slug":"senator-claire-mccaskill-introduces-legislation-that-would-bar-usps-from-closing-post-offices-without-community-notice-or-appeal-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2016\/10\/12\/senator-claire-mccaskill-introduces-legislation-that-would-bar-usps-from-closing-post-offices-without-community-notice-or-appeal-process\/","title":{"rendered":"Senator Claire McCaskill Introduces Legislation That Would Bar USPS From Closing Post Offices Without Community Notice Or Appeal Process"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of Post Office Closures Would be Addressed with McCaskill Bill to Prevent Emergency Postal Suspensions<\/h1>\n

Senator, a longtime champion of preserving rural post offices, introduces bipartisan legislation to bar U.S. Postal Service from permanently closing postal locations without community notice or appeal process<\/h2>\n

WASHINGTON<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u2013 Hundreds of post offices around the country would be protected from indefinite \u201cemergency closure\u201d under new bipartisan legislation from U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, a longtime champion of rural post service. The bill would prevent the U.S. Postal Service from using its emergency suspension process\u2014meant to be temporary\u2014to indefinitely close post offices without notice to the community, opportunity to appeal, or a timeframe for either reopening or permanently closing the facility.<\/p>\n

Since 2011, 650 postal facilities across the country were \u201ctemporarily\u201d closed under emergency suspension. Of those closures, 511 remain closed today, and the Postal Service has not told those communities if\u2014or when\u2014those post offices might reopen. McCaskill introduced the legislation with Republican Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas.\"Senator<\/p>\n

\u201cMissourians in rural communities rely on the Postal Service, and shouldn\u2019t be left in limbo without knowing if the temporary closure of their post office will be a permanent one,\u201d said McCaskill, a former Missouri State Auditor and senior member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Postal Service. \u201cThese post offices are part of the lifeblood of our communities\u2014a source of employment and a lifeline for commerce\u2014and we can\u2019t allow the Postal Service to balance its books on the backs of small communities by shuttering post offices where they\u2019re often most needed, with little transparency or explanation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis bipartisan legislation improves the transparency and accountability of the postal services provided throughout the country, but particularly to rural America,\u201d said Anthony D. Leonardi, National President, National Association of Postmasters of the United States. \u201cMany times, Postmasters, workers and communities have been surprised by abrupt and unexpected post office suspensions with little notice and no timetable for their reopening, if they reopen at all. That\u2019s why Senator McCaskill\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>Postal Closure Accountability Act<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>is critical\u2014it would help end these unexpected closures, and ensure that communities are informed about the status of their community post offices.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCaskill, a\u00a0<\/span>longtime advocate<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>for postal service in rural communities, is widely credited with having\u00a0<\/span>waged a successful campaign<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>over several years to save rural post offices and maintain delivery standards. Earlier this year, she\u00a0<\/span>called out the Postal Service<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>for its use of these \u201cemergency suspension\u201d authority to close down Missouri post offices, potentially\u00a0<\/span>circumventing the standard process<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>that requires input from communities that would feel the effects of a closure and notifications to Congress.<\/p>\n

In January, McCaskill\u00a0<\/span>demanded answers<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>from the Postal Service on how it will protect mail delivery for rural Missourians and efficiently manage the cost-sharing benefits with competitors to carry mail the \u201clast mile,\u201d especially in rural areas, saying: \u201cI think it\u2019s really important we get a handle on [rural delivery times]. Those of us who are really pushing to protect rural delivery\u2026think it\u2019s important we know what we\u2019re working with from a data-driven basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

And McCaskill is a leading sponsor of the\u00a0<\/span>Rural Postal Act<\/a><\/i>, a bill that aims to improve postal service, delivery times, and standards in rural communities that have been disproportionately affected by cuts to the Postal Service. The bill\u2014also backed by Senators Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Jon Tester of Montana\u2014would restore overnight delivery, return a faster First-Class mail standard, make six-day delivery permanent, and enact strict criteria the Postal Service would have to meet before closing a post office to ensure that rural communities are still able to easily access the mail system.<\/p>\n

Visit\u00a0<\/span>mccaskill.senate.gov\/rural<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>to learn more about McCaskill’s fight to protect rural Missouri.<\/b><\/p>\n

Also see: New McCaskill Bill to Prevent Emergency Postal Suspensions<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of Post Office Closures Would be Addressed with McCaskill Bill to Prevent Emergency Postal Suspensions Senator, a longtime champion of preserving rural post offices, introduces bipartisan legislation to bar U.S. Postal Service from permanently closing postal locations without community notice or appeal process Tuesday, October 11, 2016 WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2013 Hundreds of post offices around the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16581"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16583,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16581\/revisions\/16583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}