WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman and U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, both R-Wyo., introduced bipartisan and bicameral legislation – the Postal Operations Stay Timely and Local (POSTAL) Act.
If passed, it would prevent the U.S. Postal Service from closing, consolidating or downgrading its processing and distribution centers (P&DC) nationwide if such an action would remove the sole P&DC within a state or negatively impact mail delivery.
The Senate bill is co-sponsored by Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and the House bill is co-led by U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H.
As part of its “Delivering for America” modernization plan, the USPS has begun to consolidate or downgrade many of its existing processing and distribution centers, shifting the bulk of mail processing and delivery functions to other locations. As part of this shift, USPS has announced plans to downgrade both P&DC facilities in Wyoming, shifting Casper’s P&DC operations to Billings, Montana, and Cheyenne’s operations to Denver, Colorado, leaving Wyoming without an in-state P&DC.