Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The amendment is as follows: (Purpose: To require the closing of post offices in the…

Mr. President, at a time when we are asking post offices and people around our country to suffer the loss of their local post office, I think the very least we can do is show we are willing to give up some of the post offices around here…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The amendment is as follows: (Purpose: To establish a pilot program to test alternative…

Mr. President, this amendment would allow a pilot program for local postal autonomy. One of the complaints I heard from postmasters when they came to talk to me about this bill is that they think there is a lot of middle management in the…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that amendment No. 2029 with the modifications at the desk be reported. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk will report the amendment, as…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The amendment is as follows: (Purpose: To require the Postal Service to take into…

Mr. President, this amendment would add a technical change to the profitability plan that is already required under the bill, and it would simply ask that when they do the profitability plan, they report on whether Congress is helping or…

Mr. President, I call up amendment No. 2039. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report. The legislative clerk read as follows: The Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Paul] proposes an amendment numbered 2039.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The amendment is as follows: (Purpose: To prohibit employees of the United States Postal…

Mr. President, let's be frank. The Postal Service is bankrupt and only dramatic action will fix the Postal Service. The problem is labor costs. Eighty percent of the Postal Service's costs are labor. If we look at UPS, it is about 50…

Mr. President, this amendment doesn't change any of the postal mandates and, to tell my colleagues the truth, the system we have now is not working very well. I think we do need some innovation, so I think it would be a good idea to vote…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous to call up amendment No. 2027. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report. The assistant bill clerk read as follows: The Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Paul] proposes an amendment numbered 2027.

I urge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to provide clear direction and incentives for utilities to establish micro grids, thus ensuring at least a portion of a town or city has some electricity during the next big storm.

I believe, strongly, by the Federal Government.

I urge the Committee to review the MAG system and enact measures ensuring that every state has ready access to adequate numbers of line crews during a disaster;

I think there's an emerging issue of competition for resources, especially when you see large events moving up the coast absorbing resources as they move.

I want to thank you personally for having this hearing.

We must take proactive steps to prevent outages and protect our communities.