Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, this week the postal service announced a new strategy to keep rural post offices open. My district in Arkansas could have lost as many as 100 post offices. This new plan from the postal service is not perfect. The retail window at many post offices will have limited operating hours. However, access to the retail lobby and post office boxes will remain unchanged. More importantly, towns will keep their ZIP codes, and community identities will be preserved. In November of 2011, I introduced H.R. 3370, Protecting Our Rural Post Offices Act, which prohibits the postal service from closing rural post offices that do not have an alternative office within 8 miles. Now that the postal service has announced plans to keep all post offices open, Congress can enact reforms that will ensure rural Americans no longer have to worry about access to mail services. So many of the challenges we face in Washington are not Democrat versus Republican; rather, urban versus rural interests. In small communities across Arkansas and across the country, the post office represents the town identity and lets the world know the community exists. If post offices were to completely close and small communities no longer had their own ZIP codes, cities' identities would be lost. For my part, I will continue efforts to ensure rural Arkansas communities keep access to postal services. ____________________”