WASHINGTON – Congressmen Robert B. Aderholt (R-AL) and Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO) introduced the Deliver for Democracy Act in the House of Representatives today.
This bipartisan piece of legislation will accomplish three objectives:
1) Require the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to either achieve at least a 95% on-time delivery rate for periodicals (as highlighted in their own plan) or an improvement of at least 2 percentage points to use its 2% surcharge authority for that class of mail.
2) Require USPS to annually report to the Postal Regulatory Commission on its progress including on-time delivery data for newspapers in its periodical service performance measurement; and
3) Instruct the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a study and submit a report to Congress on options for alternate USPS pricing schemes to improve the cost margins with periodicals.
Congressman Robert B. Aderholt said this regarding the Deliver for Democracy Act:
“For some time now, it’s become clear the United States Postal Service is not living up to the expectations we all have for it as a federal agency. One of its many recent disappointments has been in the way it handles periodicals like newspapers. In a world where information is being shared ever more quickly, the postal service has, in many ways, gotten slower,” said Representative Aderholt. “I know some may say, with all the issues we are facing in our country, why focus on the Postal Service? Well, my answer is two-fold: First, it was one of the first acts of our Founding Fathers and the Continental Congress to setup a postal system in 1775, even before we officially declared our Independence. If we can’t get a system older than our nation working correctly, what hope is there for any of the other federal departments? Secondly, there is broad-bipartisan support to get the Postal Service operating as it should. There is concern from every corner of the political spectrum to get our system of delivering mail back to the level of quality it once was and that we all expect.
“I think my colleague Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) stated it best at a recent Congressional hearing when he said, “the Postal Service needs to be reminded who it was that created them in the first place.”
Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, II made the following statement:
“Missourians rely on the Postal Service for a variety of needs – from receiving life-saving medicines to staying informed about national, state, and local news,” said Representative Cleaver. “Yet, we have seen a disturbing trend since Postmaster General DeJoy assumed his role, as using the Postal Service has become more expensive and simultaneously less reliable. If the USPS is going to continue to raise rates for newspaper deliveries, they need to ensure those deliveries aren’t ‘oldpapers’ by the time they arrive at Missouri doorsteps—which is happening to an unacceptable degree in recent years. Our bipartisan legislation would help to address this ongoing concern and incentivize the USPS to get this issue under control immediately by forbidding the agency to raise rates if they continue missing the mark on their delivery standards.”
The following members of Congress have cosponsored this legislation: Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO), Jerry Carl (R-AL), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL), Jim Costa (D-CA), Angie Craig (D-MN), Donald Davis (D-NC), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA), Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY), Henry C. “Hank” Johnson, Jr. (D-GA), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-CA), Wiley Nickel (D-NC), Mike Quigley (D-IL), Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Shri Thanedar (D-MI), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Joe Wilson (R-SC)
The Deliver for Democracy Act is also supported by the following organizations: National Newspaper Association, News Media Alliance, Alabama Press Association, and the South Dakota NewsMedia Association