Culpeper Star-Exponent: Spanberger, McEachin tour Postal Service center

Sep 11, 2020
Agriculture
Economy & Jobs
Good Governance
Healthcare
In the News
Infrastructure
Local Issues
Veterans' Issues

CULPEPER STAR-EXPONENT, CLINT SCHEMMER

To learn how workers plan to handle an expected flood of mail this fall, U.S. Reps. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th, and A. Donald McEachin, D-4th, toured a Postal Service processing center Thursday.

The House members met with Postal Service employees and discussed the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and agency management’s recent operational changes ahead of a widely anticipated spike in general-election voting by mail.

In August, Spanberger cosponsored and helped pass the Delivering for America Act, which would reverse changes made by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy that have delayed mail delivery in Virginia and across the nation, scrapped high-capacity sorting machines, removed blue mailboxes and cut overtime for postal workers.

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich, has sponsored similar legislation, the Delivering for America Act. His bill, SB 4527, has been referred to the Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

“I’ve repeatedly pushed back against Postmaster General DeJoy’s attempts to harm USPS employees, restrict delivery, and slow down sorting,” Spanberger said Thursday in a statement. “Today, I got a ground-level view of how these changes have been impacting facilities in Virginia and across the country.”

She said that in recent months, her office has received more than 1,000 survey responses from Central Virginians who depend on the Postal Service to get prescription drugs, fill customer orders and complete paperwork for their small businesses, send paychecks to employees, pay bills and mortgages, and vote safely.

In rural parts of Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, the Postal Service is especially vital as many private mail carriers hand off items to the agency for the final miles of delivery, lacking business incentive to carry letters and parcels to remote addresses, Spanberger’s office said.

As the nation nears an election in which mail balloting is expected to be crucial and more families, veterans and seniors relying on the mail during the coronavirus pandemic, she said she’ll continue working with the 7th District’s Postal Service partners “to ensure that we are defending this institution at the federal level and strengthening it for our local communities.”

The Richmond Processing and Distribution Center operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, sorting and dispatching all inbound and outbound mail to and from local post offices and collection boxes in Central Virginia.

During their tour, Spanberger and McEachin spoke with senior plant manager Deshon Scott-Hopwood about how COVID-19 has affected the plant and got an update on decommissioned Postal Service equipment.

The Democrat from Henrico County thanked the center’s employees for playing a vital role in seeing that correspondence, commerce and information flow freely through the 7th District’s communities.

McEachin called the Postal Service “a critical lifeline for all Americans.”

“In light of recent reports detailing sweeping, operational changes at USPS that have slowed mail delivery, we must maintain the American people’s trust and confidence in the USPS to provide these important essential services,” McEachin said. “I am pleased to have strong partners like Rep. Spanberger in the fight to preserve the strength and integrity of one of our nation’s most prized and long-standing federal institutions.”

Spanberger’s Delivering for America Act would bar and reverse any operational changes affecting mail delivery during the COVID-19 crisis, and provide $25 billion for pandemic response efforts.

Additionally, Spanberger launched a survey to gather information from constituents about any mail delays they were experiencing. The survey garnered more than 1,100 responses and Central Virginians have shared stories about delays to everything from prescription drugs to mail-order supplies.

Spanberger has also supported several resolutions to defend six-day mail service, protect the Postal Service from being privatized, and ensure to-the-door delivery for all residential and commercial customers.

She cosponsored the bipartisan USPS Fairness Act, which would repeal a current requirement that the Postal Service annually prepay future retirement health benefits.

 

Recent Posts


Oct 30, 2024
Healthcare

Spanberger Seeks Additional Answers from DEA, FDA on Efforts to Stop Ongoing ADHD Medication Shortages

The Congresswoman Has Consistently Pressed the Federal Government to Take Additional Steps to Protect Access to ADHD Medications & Work with Manufacturers to Prevent Future Shortages WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger is urging the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to provide additional answers on their work to end […]



Oct 30, 2024
Infrastructure

Spanberger Announces More Than $9.6 Million for Infrastructure Upgrades at FBI Academy in Quantico

These Federal Grant Dollars — Made Possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — Will Upgrade Infrastructure & Increase Energy Efficiency at FBI Academy Dormitory WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger today announced that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded a total of $9,615,430 for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to make […]



Oct 29, 2024
Infrastructure

Spanberger Announces $380 Million for Virginia Port Authority to Fund Zero-Emissions Equipment & Infrastructure at Port of Virginia

These Federal Grant Dollars — Made Possible by the Inflation Reduction Act — Will Help the Virginia Port Authority Fund Electric Cargo Handling Equipment, Charging Infrastructure, & Battery Energy Storage System WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger today announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded a total of $380 million for […]