{"id":38291,"date":"2025-08-06T09:29:39","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T14:29:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=38291"},"modified":"2025-08-06T09:29:39","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T14:29:39","slug":"senator-josh-hawley-urges-new-postmaster-general-to-course-correct-usps-protect-rural-mail-delivery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2025\/08\/06\/senator-josh-hawley-urges-new-postmaster-general-to-course-correct-usps-protect-rural-mail-delivery\/","title":{"rendered":"Senator Josh Hawley Urges New Postmaster General to Course Correct USPS, Protect Rural Mail Delivery"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tuesday, August 05, 2025<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Today, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.)\u00a0sent<\/a>\u00a0a letter to the newly-appointed Postmaster General, David Steiner, urging him to course correct the unreliability and delays Missourians have experienced from the\u00a0U.S. Postal Service (USPS) under his predecessor.<\/p>\n

\u201cUSPS failed to meet its own nationwide performance targets in nearly every category, and the problem was even worse in my home state of Missouri, where on-time delivery rates dropped below 77% in fiscal year 2024. This is unacceptable,\u201d\u00a0Senator Hawley wrote.<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cRural families, small businesses, and veterans depend on reliable mail service for everything from prescription medications to Social Security checks. They deserve a Postal Service that works for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senator Hawley also urged Postmaster Steiner to<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cimmediately halt the implementation of the Regional Transportation Optimization (RTO) plan\u201d\u00a0that the Postal Regulatory Commission has already concluded would have<\/strong>\u00a0\u201csignificant negative impacts on rural communities throughout the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Senator Hawley\u00a0introduced<\/a>\u00a0the\u00a0No Regional Transportation Optimization<\/em>\u00a0(RTO)\u00a0Act in response to the\u00a0USPS\u2019 \u201cRegional Transportation Optimization\u201d plan that would eliminate end-of-day mail collection at most of the nation\u2019s post offices and trigger significant negative impacts on Missouri\u2019s rural communities.\u00a0Senator Hawley\u2019s bill would block this harmful new policy.<\/p>\n

Read the Senator\u2019s full letter from today\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0or below.<\/p>\n

August 5, 2025<\/p>\n

Postmaster General David Steiner
\nUnited States Postal Service
\n475 L\u2019Enfant Plaza SW
\nWashington, D.C. 20260<\/p>\n

Dear Postmaster General Steiner,<\/p>\n

Congratulations on your appointment as the 76th Postmaster General of the United States. Your selection comes at a pivotal moment for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), which remains one of our nation\u2019s most essential public institutions. Millions of Americans\u2014especially those living in rural communities\u2014rely on dependable, affordable, and timely mail service every day. Unfortunately, under recent leadership, USPS has fallen short of these obligations. I urge you to seize this opportunity to change course and restore public trust in the Postal Service.<\/p>\n

During the tenure of your predecessor, the Delivering for America plan resulted in persistent mail delays, higher costs, and reduced service reliability across the country. USPS failed to meet its own nationwide performance targets in nearly every category, and the problem was even worse in my home state of Missouri, where on-time delivery rates dropped below 77% in fiscal year 2024.[1] This is unacceptable. Rural families, small businesses, and veterans depend on reliable mail service for everything from prescription medications to Social Security checks. They deserve a Postal Service that works for them.<\/p>\n

Moving forward, I respectfully urge you to focus on reforms that improve service quality and operational efficiency without sacrificing the needs of rural America. In particular, I strongly encourage you to:<\/em><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Abandon policies that disadvantage rural communities. USPS leadership should commit to restoring timely, reliable mail service for all Americans, especially those in rural areas who lack access to alternatives. Reforms should prioritize operational improvements over service cuts or consolidations that disproportionately harm rural customers.<\/em>
    \n
    \n<\/em><\/li>\n
  2. Immediately halt the implementation of the Regional Transportation Optimization (RTO) plan. The Postal Regulatory Commission has already concluded that the RTO plan would have \u201csignificant negative impacts on rural communities throughout the United States.\u201d This misguided initiative should be suspended until it can be fully reassessed under your leadership, with a focus on preserving service standards for rural customers.\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The Postal Service remains a vital lifeline for millions of Americans. Its leadership should be committed to ensuring reliable, accessible, and affordable mail service\u2014not just in major cities,\u00a0 but in every small town, family farm, and rural community in this country. Your tenure presents an important opportunity to repair trust and deliver meaningful reforms that serve the entire nation.<\/p>\n

    I look forward to hearing from you about your vision for the future of USPS and urge you to keep my office informed on your plans for rural mail delivery and operational reforms.
    \n<\/em><\/p>\n

    Sincerely,<\/em><\/p>\n

    Josh Hawley<\/em>
    \nUnited States Senator<\/em><\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Tuesday, August 05, 2025 Today, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.)\u00a0sent\u00a0a letter to the newly-appointed Postmaster General, David Steiner, urging him to course correct the unreliability and delays Missourians have experienced from the\u00a0U.S. Postal Service (USPS) under his predecessor. \u201cUSPS failed to meet its own nationwide performance targets in nearly every category, and the problem was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38291","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\/38291","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=38291"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38292,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38291\/revisions\/38292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}