Legislation to provide a $25 billion emergency appropriation to the U.S. Postal Service “will help stabilize the post office and restore critical operations and services,” said Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) who voted for the legislation and has been a consistent advocate for postal workers and customers, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. 

“The men and women of the postal service have been working on the frontlines during COVID-19 delivering mail, food supplies, medicines, checks and other critical items,” Smith said.  “The USPS has faced added expenses—PPE, testing, quarantine leave, overtime and sanitizing equipment—all to help sustain our embattled economy and enable the rest of us to get the products we need.”

Smith, who was pivotal in the reopening of the John K. Rafferty processing and distribution center in Hamilton, NJ, after it was hit and closed in the anthrax attack of 2001, said that the changes proposed by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, would severely curtail operations and cut mail services throughout most of central New Jersey.

“They are aiming to get rid of almost half of the 26 major mail processing machines just at the John K. Rafferty processing distribution center in Hamilton, alone,” Smith said.  “Efficient and powerful equipment such as delivery bar code sorters move 40,000 pieces of mail per hour.  To dismantle perfectly operating equipment delays the mail and hurts customers and commerce.” 

Smith noted he was also fighting recent lunch-hour closures at branch offices throughout his district “as the closures make it harder for postal patrons to conduct business and/or pick up their mail,” he said.

“The loss of personnel and machines could hamper vote by mail return as well,” Smith said.

In addition to providing the $25 billon emergency appropriation, the bill Smith voted for, Delivering for America Act, HR 8015, will:

·         Prohibit the USPS from undertaking any operational changes from what was in effect prior to January 1, 2020 that may reduce services, such as revision of service standards, closure or consolidation of facilities, or restrictions on overtime pay.

·         Direct the USPS to reverse any initiative or action that is causing delay in mail delivery or processing.

·         Require that election-related mail—such as mail-in ballots and voter registration forms—be treated as first-class mail, and bars removing or decommissioning mail sorting machines and mail collection boxes available to the public or instituting a hiring freeze.

·         Mandate that, to the maximum extent practicable, the USPS post-mark, process, and clear election mail on the day it is received.

   “The USPS, its universal delivery network, and its postal workers and carriers are a reliable presence in communities across the nation.  We must not shortchange the postal service which has proven so critical to our economy, elections and democracy,” Smith said.