Political Quotes

“later this afternoon--actually, in a fairly short while--we are going to be voting on whether to proceed with the Postal Service reform bill, and I hope we vote yes. I hope we have a strong bipartisan vote to go forward. I will tell you why. About 9 or 10 months ago, the Postmaster General came up with a proposal for the Postal Service. In my view, that proposal from the Postmaster General is an unmitigated disaster for our country and especially for rural America. This is what his original proposal outlined: What he proposed was the shutting down of more than 3,600 mostly rural post offices. If one lives in a rural State such as mine, one knows how important rural post offices are, and their function is beyond being just a post office. In many small communities throughout this country, post offices are the center of the town. It is where people come together. It is what develops a sense of community. In some cases, it is what that small rural town is all about. If we shut down that rural post office, in some instances we are literally shutting down that town. We should also understand, in the midst of the serious financial problems facing the Postal Service, shutting down 3,600 mostly rural post offices would save the Postal Service one-quarter of 1 percent of their budget.…”