Stabenow introduces amendment to delay bulk mail center closures

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow has introduced a measure today that would stop the U.S. Postal Service from closing the bulk mail processing center in Kingsford for two years.

She was one of twelve Senators who wrote the measure, an amendment to a bill already before the Senate. The amendment would prevent delays in mail delivery that will affect families and small businesses. It would also re-establish overnight delivery standards for first-class mail.

The Kingsford bulk mail processing center is one of 82 that the Postal Service announced last July that it would begin to close early this year. The cuts are slated to happen because of huge financial losses for the Postal Service that come from a 2006 law requiring it to fully fund retiree health care benefits 75 years in advance. No other public agency or private-sector firm is required to do that.

Stabenow sent a letter to the Postmaster General in November asking for the closures to be delayed until studies are completed and customers are given an opportunity to share their concerns. She also sponsored the Postal Service Protection Act last year, a bill that would end the health care benefits overfunding requirement in federal law.