Tester statement on Postal Service decision to keep Saturday mail delivery

(U.S. SENATE) – Senator Jon Tester today released the following statement after the Postal Service announced it would abandon its plan to cut Saturday mail delivery that would have unfairly hurt families and businesses in rural America:

“I am pleased to see that the Postal Service now understands its plan to reduce mail delivery violated the law. Rural America depends on reliable and efficient mail delivery, which is why Congress has required 6-day mail. Reducing delivery, blindly cutting services and closing post offices without examining how those decisions affect rural communities is irresponsible and will hurt the Postal Service’s bottom line. Preserving Saturday delivery is a step in the right direction, but we still have more work to do to put the Postal Service on sound financial footing.”

Tester supported a bipartisan Senate plan last year that gave the Postal Service the flexibility it needs to restructure while protecting postal service in rural states like Montana, but the House of Representatives never voted on the plan.

The Postal Service is struggling financially in part due to the 2006 law – enacted before Tester was a member of the Senate – that requires the Postal Service to prepay retirement benefits of postal employees at a rate higher than necessary.