 For what purpose does a gentleman from Vermont seek recognition to address the house for one minute revise and extend without objection The gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker. The postal service is a mess today We're about to take up a reform proposal that is long overdue Mail delivery in rural Vermont is critical for all our rural communities for our seniors who rely on getting their checks and getting their prescriptions and for Vermont businesses and Local papers that provide news in our country stores. It's really crucial Mismanagement underfunding labor shortages have really created a crisis last January my office received eight complaints this January It was 69 complaints in some Vermonters are going over a week without getting any mail delivery Our folks are going paycheck to paycheck and not getting their paycheck This bill will finally get the United States Postal Service on track for our rural communities and all Americans It's overdue and that's why I hope all of us will support passage today. I yield back. Thank you all for coming We'll try to speak up so that we can talk over whatever traffic noise Is behind us I want to thank you for coming, but I want to thank Mayor Lott also so good to have you here and with me air traffic to Is Scott Lassel National Postal Mail handers Handers Union Jane Draper of the United Postmasters of America Max Harris of Gardner supply representing our businesses that are so dependent on mail delivery in Meredith Bay Tyak director of downtown Winnowsky this week on a bipartisan basis The House of Representatives past the most significant Postal reform bill in recent history in two decades. It's the Postal Service Reform Act And it will significantly help the United States Postal Service address persistent financial problems Among those problems has been the pre funding requirement for 75 years of Health benefits and retirement benefits. No other Enterprise public or private has such a burden placed on them that exceeds what is necessary for the secure funding of retirement and health care benefits and by finally changing that it's going to alleviate the Financial burden of roughly 27 billion dollars over 10 years That's going to help other things though that are important is Medicare integration a lot of folks who work in the Postal Service pay in the Medicare All the time they work yet, they are not on Medicare. They're on the Governor other health care when they get out So they're paying for Medicare, but not really getting it and now we're going to integrate it Which will also reduce About 22 billion dollars In burden on the Postal Service In our hope is that what money we save on Unnecessary expenses can be put back into better service better pay for our postal workers better equipment and machines We're also including in that a service transparency performance Metric and it would require the Postal Service to develop Something it's easy to use for the public to find out what's going on with their mail It's been incredibly frustrating recently for businesses and for individuals And we're going to maintain the six-day Delivery that includes packages as well as mail, you know, it's been a real problem In Vermont in around the country with mail We have been getting complaints that have escalated significantly in in in frequency Just give a couple of examples In since July 2021 our office received a hundred forty one postal complaints in the past month. We were in the past month We received 69 complaints Compared to eight complaints in the year before so it's really boosting and What we're hearing from people is that they're not getting their prescription drugs Provided on time They're not getting their checks, which they absolutely need to pay their bills And then we're also hearing from many of our retailers. We're going to hear from Gardner supply That their business totally and completely depends on an effective efficient mail service And their business provides Vermonters with many many good jobs So this issue of postal service reform is absolutely essential The postal service has been with us in this country since literally before the Constitution That's how old it is. It was founded by Benjamin Franklin and it has had to go through all types of changes from the Pony Express and then Telegraph Changed in the business model and obviously now with electronic transmission of emails replacing much of first class but The mission of the postal service Throughout our history has been the same to get mail delivered To individuals and for businesses to the people of the state and of this country So it's really good news that finally after many years of work The house of representatives on a bipartisan basis has passed this postal reform act And let's hope it translates pretty soon into better service and delivery for our citizens So now I want to turn this over to Scott Lassel the national postal mail handlers handle their union Scott come on up. It's good to see you Through rain snow Whatever it is you guys work hard. Thank you so much. I don't know how you do it We want to thank you too. I want to thank the congressman for helping put through the bill in the house And now it has to go through the senate now all the vermont Representatives in Washington DC have always been very strong supporters of the postal service And I want to thank all of them. I would also like to briefly touch If I may on the uh, the status of the postal service in the state of Vermont One of the biggest problems we're facing right now is as a lack of employees We are short in mail handlers and clerks and carriers across the whole state and We need people to apply and work for the postal service to keep up the uh, the rate of Delivery the on-time delivery And the service that everyone's been expected throughout the years. So I want to thank you and thank the congressman once again Thank thank you scott and now jane draper united post masters of america jane. Thank you And by the way delivers mail it is hard. I don't know if you've seen the weather lately, but it's been cold No matter what it is. You got to get out there, right? Thank you. We do Thank you congressman welch. We'd like to thank you on behalf of the united Post masters and managers of america for getting this bill passed The united states postal service is an intricate part of what binds our country together And with the national worldwide pandemic It has truly shown How needed our service is and our employees stepped up when above and beyond To succeed as much as we have So again, I'd like to thank peter and his staff and all the congressionals for passing this bill Thank you jane And of course it's been in the house and I serve on the oversight committee But we're looking to the continued leadership of senator lehi and senator sanders Who are true champions of the postal service? And now by the way, we've got our Postmaster here and we can't we get he's on the down low. You know, we got to be careful But we really appreciate all that you're doing here to get the mail out. Thank you And now max harris from gardener supply and max You guys need the postal service, right? We sure do. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, great business Thanks for coming out and thank you so much congressman welch I've been at gardener supply for 23 years and one constant has been Our reliance on behalf of our hundreds of employee owners here in vermont Also and now in massachusetts and new hampshire of a reliable and affordable us postal service we've had multiple challenges that are escalating and Challenges throughout our business with cost of raw materials and the global supply chain We really need our catalogs to be mailed cost effectively and to rely on them getting in home On time and as expected, especially as a seasonal business We also ship a significant number of our actual packages to consumers from our warehouse in milton And during holiday service levels from that mode of delivery We're substandard and we actually shut it off And upgraded shipping at our cost and our expense to our business to make sure that we were serving our customers well so we enthusiastically support this act and appreciate all that congressman welch and everyone else is doing on behalf of it Thank you my pleasure. Yeah, no, and I want to thank our businesses gardener supply king Arthur flower The vermont country store our three major Retailers that depend on the service and they're all around vermont and provide really critical jobs So thank you and we did include in the postal reform bill A good rates for the delivery of those catalogs that are so essential for you to get the word out And now our last speaker here is the director of downtown winuski meredith bay tyak. Thank you meredith Thanks for being here As everyone else said this is an incredibly challenging time to be a business owner and to run a business And having a reliable postal service is just one piece of that puzzle And we are hearing from business owners that they actually just like gardeners sort of stepped away from usps service personally and professionally And we're excited for this to move forward so that they can rely again on the us postal service. Thank you Thank you very much And I want to welcome mayor christine lot to say a few words, but uh, you're doing a great job here And I mean this this community winuski. It's the best I would agree with that congressman um, I want to thank you for coming out and for The efforts in congress to resolve these issues for all of you for covering it And then for those of you who actually do this work, um, I too have heard from constituents over the last year plus concerns about their mail delivery Um, particularly with the prescription drugs is the most concerning thing So this is going to be really important. We have a lot of You know senior folks homebound folks who really rely on this critical service. And so thank you all again for your work here Thank you. Thank you. Any uh, any questions? What I can tell you is that senator schumer says this is a priority Because everything I've heard from vermoner senator sanders and senator lehi have been hearing as well So this is a problem and we've got a bipartisan bill So I don't know what the senate time is I none of us can predict that but what I do know is that it's a senate priority And you know, it'll be really good for us in congress to get something done That is helpful to everyday people and our local businesses And that's important whether you're Republican or democrat so I have some optimism we can move on this pretty quickly Well, thank you really appreciate you coming out Thanks