WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski (IL-13) announced that three of her priorities to strengthen the United States Postal Service (USPS) passed the House of Representatives as part of the Fiscal Year 2026 Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) report. The language, which Budzinski secured alongside Representatives Jack Bergman (MI-01), Jared Golden (ME-02), Harriet Hageman (WY-AL), and Chris Pappas (NH-01), would address top issues impacting mail delivery for rural communities, including USPS plans to limit the number of times mail is picked up from rural post offices, to consolidate processing facilities, and to close local post offices.
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“Chronic mail delays are a top concern for my constituents living in rural areas who rely on the USPS to get their prescription, paychecks, ballots, and much more,” said Congresswoman Budzinski. “As a co-chair of the Congressional Postal Service Caucus, I pushed to advance these three measures to prevent facility closures and service changes that will worsen on-time delivery rates in Central and Southern Illinois. I’m excited to see them pass in the House today and I am going to continue to work towards federal legislation that solidifies these measures into law.”
Specifically, Budzinski priorities passed in the FSGG report are:
A recommendation that the USPS reevaluate its Regional Transportation Optimization (RTO) plan to ensure that rural Americans do not experience further mail delays. The RTO plan limits the number of times mail is picked up from post offices more than fifty miles away from Regional Processing and Distribution Centers.
A recommendation that the USPS to halt any realignment, consolidation, or partial consolidation of processing or logistics facilities that provide services to postal districts that at any point over the past calendar year have failed to meet 93 percent on-time delivery for two-day single-piece First Class mail and 90.3 percent on-time delivery for three-to-five-day First Class mail.
A recommendation that the USPS halt any plans to close any post office if that post office serves more than 15,000 people or if there is not another post office within 15 miles.
Budzinski is the founder and co-chair of the Congressional Postal Service Caucus, a bipartisan group of lawmakers dedicated to improving the USPS and supporting the more than 600,000 USPS employees across the country.
