North Michigan News

Representative Jack Bergman (R-MI-01) and Representative Nikki Budzinski (D-IL-13) have jointly introduced the Protect Postal Performance Act, a bipartisan bill aimed at stopping the U.S. Postal Service's consolidation plans for Processing and Distribution Centers (P&DC) in underperforming postal districts.

According to Rep. Bergman, "My constituents rely on the Postal Service for the timely delivery of bills, payments, prescriptions, and other necessities, and they deserve a functional mail service, absent of manufactured delays caused by bureaucratic ineptitude." He thanked Rep. Budzinski for co-leading the bill, stating, "to halt the Postal Service’s ill-conceived consolidation plans in areas where the agency is already underperforming."

Rep. Budzinski also expressed her concerns, saying, "Postmaster DeJoy has no business reducing mail processing capacity in areas that are already short staffed and struggling to receive mail on time." She added, "Today, I introduced bipartisan legislation that will halt these plans in Champaign and Springfield, and in underserviced areas across the country."

Rep. Bergman has been actively advocating against USPS' downsizing plans, particularly in Kingsford, by sending letters to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. He emphasized that the downsizing could lead to worse delivery rates and the relocation of jobs.

The Protect Postal Performance Act proposed by Rep. Bergman aims to prevent USPS from downsizing processing facilities in regions that are failing to meet the USPS delivery targets. Currently, Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula experience delivery rates of 75.2 percent for three-to-five-day mail and 91.2 percent for two-day mail, falling below the USPS targets.

The bipartisan bill introduced by Bergman and Budzinski seeks to protect local USPS jobs and address the concerns surrounding the potential impact of consolidation plans on postal delivery services in underperforming regions.