Durbin Voices His Opposition To Trump Admin's Proposed Cuts At USPS During Meeting With National Association Of Letter Carriers
Durbin met with the Illinois chapter of the National Association of Letter Carriers in his Washington office today
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today met with the Illinois chapter of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) to discuss the Trump Administration’s harmful rhetoric on privatizing the United States Postal Service (USPS). Durbin and the letter carriers spoke about the future of USPS leadership as Postmaster General Louis DeJoy resigned earlier this week. Additionally, Durbin reiterated his opposition to the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) proposal to cut 10,000 USPS employees at the detriment of Illinoisans who rely on USPS to receive medications, critical communications from the federal government, Social Security payments, and more. On Sunday, Durbin joined NALC in Chicago at the Rally to Save USPS to oppose any effort to dismantle the Postal Service.
“Our letter carriers are dedicated federal employees who provide a critical service to our communities. It’s shameful that President Trump does not understand that privatizing USPS and cutting 10,000 employees will not make our government more efficient. It will only harm federal workers and cripple the government services that Illinoisans rely on,” Durbin said. “I sat down with Illinois members of the National Association of Letter Carriers today to discuss how we can protect USPS and its employees from the President’s misguided mission to gut critical government services.”
A photo of the meeting is available here.
Durbin has fought to protect USPS from cuts that were proposed under former Postmaster General DeJoy’s “Delivering for America” plan. In February, Durbin introduced the bipartisan Postal Processing Protection Act to protect mail processing centers in rural communities by mandating a study on the consequences of downsizing or closing these facilities, which is already required before the closure of a storefront post office, but not for Processing and Distribution Centers (P&DCs).
After the announcement of proposed changes to mail processing centers in March 2024, Durbin led his Illinois colleagues in sending a letter calling on Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to reconsider his decision to eliminate mail processing at P&DCs in Peoria, Milan, and Springfield. In their letter, the lawmakers noted that any move to alter operations at existing P&DC facilities in Illinois would only exacerbate delayed mail delivery in the state.
In March 2024, Durbin joined 20 of his Senate colleagues to urge Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to stop any changes to USPS service standards that would result in job losses and further degrade mail delivery performance, especially in rural areas.
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