U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt is maintaining his push to improve the U.S. Postal Service with the recent reintroduction of legislation designed to increase the efficiency and reliability of the government agency. Aderholt is currently focused on improving the delivery of periodicals and newspapers throughout the United States, and he believes that his Deliver for Democracy Act will accomplish exactly that.
“For far too long, we’ve seen the United States Postal Service struggle to meet the expectations of the American people, particularly in delivering newspapers and periodicals in a timely manner,” said Aderholt (R-Haleyville). “As information moves faster than ever in today’s world, it is unacceptable that our postal system is falling behind. This legislation is about holding USPS accountable and ensuring they prioritize timely, reliable delivery.”
“The Postal Service has been a backbone of communication in our country since before the founding of our nation, and we must take action to restore the level of service that Americans expect and deserve. I am pleased to partner with Congressman Cleaver on this effort, and I look forward to working with my colleagues in Congress to see this bill become law.”
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According to Aderholt, the bill will accomplish three key objectives:
- Require the USPS to either achieve at least a 95% on-time delivery rate for periodicals (as highlighted in their own plan) or an improvement of at least 2 percentage points to use its 2% surcharge authority for that class of mail;
- Require USPS to annually report to the Postal Regulatory Commission on its progress, including on-time delivery data for newspapers in its periodical service performance measurement; and
- Instruct the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a study and submit a report to Congress on options for alternate USPS pricing schemes to improve the cost margins with periodicals.
Austen Shipley is the News Director for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @ShipleyAusten
