Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of my amendment that has been included in En Bloc amendment #1 to the FY 2024 Financial Services and General Government Funding bill that would ensure the U.S. Postal Service is effectively working to protect our postal employees.

With a continually increasing delivery network of more than 163 million delivery points, the U.S. Postal Service delivered over 129 billion mail pieces on more than 233,171 routes in fiscal year (FY) 2021.

That work would not be possible without the dedication and hard work of many postal employees, including letter carriers, who interact with the public almost every day and are a cornerstone of the service that Americans expect from our Postal Service.

But that work also carries great risks for the men and women of the Postal Service, including assault, robberies, and even death. It was nearly a year ago in December 2022 that a letter carrier was killed in uniform in my district. My thoughts are with his family as they prepare to celebrate their first Thanksgiving without him.

At a 2022 congressional hearing, Frank Albergo, national president of the Postal Police Officers Association testified, ``The Postal Service, perhaps America's most beloved federal institution, is in peril. Postal workers are being attacked and mail is being stolen at unprecedented levels.''

Earlier this year, police in the Milwaukee area arrested and charged eight members of a mail theft ring, seizing six guns, a bag of opened mail (including personal checks made out to hundreds of different people), and two arrow keys. Earlier this month, at least two postal workers in Milwaukee were robbed at gunpoint while on duty. This remains an ongoing and national problem.

These assaults, threats, and other crimes against postal employees directly impact mail delivery and the ability of the Postal Service to recruit and retain workers.

That is why I have been pushing the Postal Service to proactively use all available resources and tools to better protect its employees, working closely with other federal, state, and local officials. And I know others in this body have also been pushing the Postal Service to do more.

In a response to one of my inquiries on this matter this year, the Postal Service noted a number of steps it was taking including installing more theft resistant mailboxes and heightened mail theft prevention efforts in selected cities nationwide.

My amendment is intended to help ensure that those measures actually work to effectively protect our postal employees and ensure that those preying on them are caught and held accountable. I am pleased that it was included in this En Bloc amendment. And I hope the Postal Service will take very seriously its charge and responsibility to the safety and well-being of its employees.

Our postal employees are working hard to serve communities across our nation, and they deserve to be able to go to work knowing that they can do so safely.

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