Senators Dan Sullivan and Gary Peters introduced a bipartisan resolution to support the independence of the United States Postal Service (USPS), highlighting its critical public service role, particularly in rural areas.
Senator Sullivan stressed that the USPS is essential for Alaskans, particularly through the Bypass Mail program, which ensures postal services reach even the most remote communities in the state. He opposed any attempts to privatize the USPS, which could jeopardize its ability to deliver services universally.
“In a state as vast as ours, with many remote communities only accessible by air or water, the USPS serves as an essential government agency that keeps postal services affordable for Alaskans,” Senator Sullivan said. “The Bypass Mail program—a lifeline for Rural Alaska that I have fought for since becoming a senator—allows the USPS to fulfill its universal service obligation to deliver goods and services to even the most remote parts of our state. I will forcefully oppose any action that threatens that program. I am glad to work with my colleagues from other rural states on this resolution to oppose the privatization of the Postal Service and ensure that this critical agency remains focused on its statutory requirement to reliably deliver mail to every household, no matter how remote.”
Senator Murkowski echoed this, noting that the USPS is vital for delivering necessities like food, medicine, and election ballots, particularly in areas with limited internet access.
“Federal statute has long recognized that the Postal Service’s core purpose is ‘to bind the Nation together through the personal, educational, literary, and business correspondence of the people.’ In Alaska, where most communities are unconnected by road and where internet connectivity—when available—is often unreliable or prohibitively expensive, we rely on the USPS to deliver vital basic necessities, whether that is food, medicine, election ballots, spare parts, store inventory, or subsistence supplies,” said Senator Murkowski. “I am proud to co-sponsor this resolution again to reaffirm the significance of the United States Postal Service as an independent establishment of the Federal Government and to reject its privatization.”
Senator Peters highlighted the long-standing role of the USPS in connecting households and businesses nationwide and reaffirmed the commitment to keeping it independent and self-sustaining.
The resolution acknowledges the USPS’s role in the $1.9 trillion mailing industry and its significant contributions to national security. It urges Congress to protect the USPS from privatization to maintain affordable and universal mail service.
Senators Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins (R-Maine), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) co-sponsored the resolution.