TUCSON, AZ— Today, Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who is Chair of the Task Force on the United States Postal System, urging him to consider the negative impacts that rushed consolidation of post offices have on communities—including unnecessary mail delays and loss of jobs. This comes on the heels of the introduction of H.R. 6523, Defending Quality Postal Delivery for the Future Act, Rep. Grijalva’s bill to prohibit post office closures in high population growth areas. The task force, established by President Trump, is expected to release their recommendations by August 10. The letter read in part:

“Postal delays are not merely a nuisance — they can have harmful health impacts and hamper businesses’ most fundamental operations, such as meeting their payroll. For example, the partial consolidation of Tucson Cherrybell facility, in my district, has already harmed individuals, businesses, and mailers in the community with delivery delays. A 2015 Tucson city survey found that 84 percent of individuals and 86 percent of businesses reported a noticeable delay in their mail delivery services since the first phase of consolidation. Respondents reported waiting additional days for medicines, delays in Veterans benefits and medications and delays in receipts and payments for regular business transactions.

I am concerned that the USPS consolidations fail to adequately account for population growth. While population does not necessarily correlate to mail volume, it would be irresponsible to assume maintenance of this trend in an ever changing economy. Closing postal facilities in high growth localities, like Tucson, threatens jobs and undermines timely delivery in areas that need stable mail delivery for economic growth. Our goal should be to catalyze economic development, not stunt it in the fastest growing population centers in the country. That is why I recently introduced the Defending Quality Postal Delivery for the Future Act, a bill to prohibit USPS from closing or consolidating any post office or other postal facility that is located in a ZIP code that has a high rate of population growth.”

Click here to read the letter in its entirety.

Since 2013, Rep. Grijalva has led the Arizona delegation in protecting the Cherrybell Post Office/Tucson Mail Processing Center—including sending multiple letters to the Postmaster Generals, working to maintain service standards in postal reform bills, and introducing legislation that prevents post office closures in zip codes with high population growth.