Tester meets with Flathead-area Postmaster

Senator pledges to continue fighting for strong mail service in rural Montana

(U.S. SENATE) – Senator Jon Tester today met with Somers Postmaster Tyler Thompson to discuss the importance of reliable mail service for rural Montana families and communities.

Tester’s meeting with Thompson comes less than a week after the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee passed a bill to restructure the Postal Service by allowing for further cuts to mail service in rural areas of the country.

Tester, Montana’s only member of the committee, voted against the bill and today pledged to keep working on the bill to make sure it includes protections for rural mail service before it comes up for a vote in the full Senate.

“I am committed to finding better solutions that will protect rural Montana’s mail service while putting the Postal Service on sound financial footing,” Tester said. “The Postal Service must live up to its responsibility to deliver mail on time to all parts of the country, including rural Montana. I’m going to keep fighting to make sure the folks in charge of the Postal Service understand the importance of efficient and reliable mail service for families and communities in rural America.”

Thompson told Tester that passing common-sense legislation that supports rural mail facilities will ensure that all Montanans can continue to depend on their mail service. Cuts to rural mail service mean delayed delivery for essentials such as medicine, paychecks, farm equipment – and even election ballots.

Tester has a long record of working to reform the Postal Service while making sure rural Montanans can still reliably get their mail. He successfully got the Postal Service to keep Saturday delivery in 2013, protected rural post offices from closure, and kept the Missoula mail processing facility open.

President of the National League of Postmasters Mark Strong joined Postmaster Tyler Thompson at the meeting.