Political Quotes

“I thank the Acting President pro tempore. Madam President, I thank my friend from Oregon for his excellent statement, really. Senator Collins and I want to work with the Senator and the other cosponsors of the amendment. I want to say a couple things. The first is, the particular examples Senator Merkley gave of the importance of post offices in small towns and in rural America make a larger point to those who have said--those within the Senate and those outside--that in the age of the Internet, the Post Office is a relic we cannot afford, and we have to cut, cut, cut, cut. Well, there is no question that because the Postal Service is running big deficits--up to about $13 billion over the last 2 years--there has to be economizing and we have to look at a different business model. But to draw an easy conclusion that in the age of the Internet the post office and the Postal Service do not have a role to play and are not playing a role anymore is wrong. I think the Senator's examples, in very personal ways, show that. I said yesterday about three times--and I am going to say it again today--notwithstanding the drop in mail volume because of the Internet today, every day the U.S. Postal Service delivers 563 million pieces of mail, and a lot of the things the Postal Service is delivering are critically important to people. An awful lot of the prescription drugs people are getting today, in an increasing number, are coming through the mail. It is an example the Senator cited.…”