March 27, 2021
Dear Friends,
The U.S. Postal Service has long stood as a pillar of our communities and our democracy. Each day, dedicated postal workers transport millions of packages with care, including vital deliveries such as lifesaving medications, Social Security checks, benefits for veterans and unemployed workers, legal documents, letters and cards from our loved ones and other basic necessities.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to shape our lives across every corner of the country, reliance upon these services has become even more essential.
Despite the urgent need for its services, significant mail delays and other postal resource limitations have persisted for our Capital Region communities and others across the nation. These failings can be traced directly back to misguided decisions and even willful negligence by the small group of Washington insiders—the Postal Service Board of Governors led by U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy—whose job it is to manage the USPS.
In recent months, I have heard story after story of constituents experiencing inexcusable mail delays.
- Residents have shared that packages are taking more than 25 days to arrive at its destination;
- Holiday cards were received in February despite being sent out months prior; and
- Mail is being delivered to their homes as late as 10:00PM, or simply never arriving.
Last week, I sent a letter to Postmaster General DeJoy expressing my frustrations on behalf of many of my constituents regarding significant mail delays we are experiencing across our Capital Region and beyond. In my letter I demanded an explanation for the operational changes the Postmaster General has made to the agency that appear to be causing these delays.
The Albany USPS facility in particular is struggling—through no fault of its employees—to uphold its mission of timely and reliable service. Six mail processing plants in New York have been closed, leaving the Albany plant racing—and its many employees working heroically—to absorb the increased load. Despite this added burden, the facility has not been upgraded, with no mail-sorting equipment improvements in at least a decade.
In fact, instead of taking the reasonable step of providing additional resources to handle the increased load, mail sorting machinery was actually inexplicably decommissioned from the Albany facility prior to the November 2020 elections—even despite the fact that mail-in voting was predicted to reach record highs. And Postal Service leadership did this right before the holiday season, historically the busiest time of year for the Postal Service. Enough is enough. This week, I joined with more than 50 fellow members of the House of Representatives sending a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to immediately remove and replace the six current members of the Postal Service Board of Governors.
In the face of continued failures, and at a moment when the American people need the Postal Service most, the Board of Governors has proven itself incapable of addressing calls for change and unwilling to deliver needed resources. These appointees have politicized one of the most basic and beloved services of the federal government and allowed its service standards to deteriorate even further to an all-time low.
Our Postal Service is a vital service, enshrined by America’s Founders in Article 1 of our Constitution. Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of political corruption will stop my fight to protect and maintain this essential public service that helps keep our nation running.
As always, thank you for reading.
Your friend,
DID YOU KNOW?
Throughout this pandemic, my office and I have worked to make sure you remain informed with the latest updates and recommendations on any and all COVID-19 related topics. With that in mind here is some information from the DOL and IRS that may be of interest to you:
- States have experienced a surge in fraudulent unemployment claims filed by organized crime rings using stolen identities that were accessed or purchased from past data breaches.
- For information and reporting other types of unemployment fraud, including claimant fraud or employer fraud, visit the Report Unemployment Fraud page.
- You may be a victim of unemployment identity theft if you received:
- Mail from a government agency about an unemployment claim or payment and you did not recently file for unemployment benefits. This includes unexpected payments or debit cards and could be from any state.
- A 1099-G tax form reflecting unemployment benefits you weren't expecting. Box 1 on this form may show unemployment benefits you did not receive or an amount that exceeds your records for the unemployment benefits you did receive. The form itself may be from a state in which you do not live or did not file for benefits.
- While you are still employed, a notice from your employer indicating that your employer received a request for information about an unemployment claim in your name.
- Contact the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) to report any fraud related to COVID-19 using their Hotline at 1-866-720-5721 or submitted through the NCDF Web Complaint Form.