Braley Statement on Postal Service Abandoning Plan to Close Post Offices

UPDATE:

We just received additional information from the US Postal Service detailing some of the proposed changes to postal operations in the current First Congressional District of Iowa.

In short, the Postal Service is proposing to keep open post offices that were previously at risk for closure.  Instead, the Postal Service is proposing to limit the hours of operation at a number of post offices.  View a detailed breakdown of the proposal - including the specific post offices affected (in the First District of Iowa only) - at the following link:

http://go.usa.gov/VvP

At 3pm CDT, the Postal Service will release a nationwide list of the proposed changes at the following link:

http://about.usps.com/news/electronic-press-kits/our-future-network/welcome.htm#

Announcement is "a major victory for rural Iowans"

Washington, D.C. - Rep. Bruce Braley (IA-01) released the following statement today after the US Postal Service announced that it was abandoning its plan to close thousands of post offices across the county and will instead reduce service hours at as many as a tiird of all post offices:

"This announcement is a major victory for rural Iowans who depend on their post offices to do business and connect with the world.  Post offices are a vital part of the rural Iowa economy, and we've worked for months to protect small town post offices from closure.  I'm glad that the Postal Service has heeded our call and will keep our post offices open.

"However, I am concerned about how severe the service cutbacks will be under the new proposal.  I'm going to closely evaluate its effect on post offices in Iowa."

The Postal Service has faced severe budget shortfalls and has weighed closing thousands of post offices across the United States for the past year.  In December 2011, bowing to public pressure, the US Postal Service announced a moratorium on all post office closures until May 15th, 2012.

The announcement likely means that 234 post offices in Iowa "under review" for closure will remain open.  In Iowa's First Congressional District, 22 post offices "under review" for closure will likely remain open.