My name is Ashley Motta and I’m a congressional liaison for the Postal Service in Washington, DC. I serve as one of the points of contact for members of Congress and their staffs to communicate with our organization.
Together with my colleagues in Government Relations and Public Policy, we build relationships with members and their staffs to keep them informed about what’s happening at all levels of the Postal Service. If they want more information about USPS finances, network modernization, real estate and facility issues, or our next-generation delivery vehicles, they can reach out to me to discuss.
Members of Congress ask all types of questions. We get simple queries such as, “My constituent is looking for this package. Can you help us find it?” Or sometimes they want to know, “Is this Post Office in my district eligible to be named after someone?” We also get policy questions about fiscal stability and customer service.
One common thing people wonder about is how we do our job without getting into partisanship. Members of Congress from all sides of the aisle care about getting the mail to the American public. We educate and advocate for the Postal Service’s priorities on a bipartisan basis and are accessible to any office that wants to work with us. We even have an office on Capitol Hill where congressional staff can stop by to speak with us anytime.
We rely on every department within USPS and employees across the nation when congressional offices come to us with questions. If a member of Congress asks about a Post Office in Pennsylvania, for example, I get on the phone with the consumer affairs manager in that state.
I worked for a representative and then a senator before coming to USPS. I interacted with their constituents about concerns with various agencies, and sometimes I contacted liaisons at the Postal Service if they had concerns about their mail or Post Office. That experience gave me a unique appreciation for the Postal Service, which made me interested in working here. USPS is one of the most visible and tangible parts of our government for citizens.
I was also attracted to the Postal Service because we are such a unique agency. The fact that we must operate like a business as well as a public service presents so many fascinating challenges.
Because I enjoy my job so much, my dad started looking for positions within USPS. He’s now a retail associate in Norton, MA, but will occasionally fill in in other parts of Massachusetts or Rhode Island.
It makes me proud to know my family is now a postal family.
“On the Job,” a column on individual employees and their contributions to the Postal Service, appears regularly in Link.
