WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill used a Senate hearing Tuesday to express concerns she has heard from Missourians about proposed cutbacks in the United States Postal Service.
During the hearing, McCaskill stressed the importance of rural postal service to Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe. McCaskill questioned Donahoe about the proposals to institute five-day delivery by eliminating delivery on Saturdays, and to close hundreds of post offices.
“We are in the middle of hearings in Missouri on the 167 post office closings being proposed in my state,” McCaskill told Donahoe. “Eighty-five percent of those are in counties of less than 50,000 residents.”
Noting that “I spent a lot of time in my state going around outside of the urban areas over the last month,” McCaskill stressed the importance of transparency in the process, telling Donahoe she wants to ensure “this isn’t just a dog-and-pony show.”
Calling it an issue of common sense, McCaskill also used the hearing to emphasized the importance of Saturday delivery to rural communities, pointing out those communities’ reliance on the postal service for access to news, goods, and services that may not be available through other means.
Video of the hearing is available HERE.
McCaskill spent the past month meeting with businesses throughout rural Missouri on commonsense ideas to create jobs.
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