Wyden, Bonamici defend Postal Service

WARRENTON — U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici held a press conference Monday afternoon in front of the post office in Warrenton to defend the U.S. Postal Service, a critical lifeline they say has been undermined by President Donald Trump.

The stop was part of Wyden’s statewide tour to protect the Postal Service in response to actions the Trump administration has taken before the November election to remove sorting machines and mailboxes and question the legitimacy of mail-in voting.

The Oregon Democrat said mail delivery has been delayed throughout the state and country as a result, hurting people who depend on the Postal Service to receive Social Security checks and prescription medications.

“I don’t think Donald Trump is going to be able to disrupt it,” Wyden said of the state’s vote-by-mail system. “But he sure has a thing in for Oregon so we are going to be very, very vigilant, which is why we’re making this tour.”

“I want everybody to understand that what the real agenda of Trump and those who are pushing these policies is privatization ... And we are adamantly against that.”

Bonamici supported the Delivering for America Act, bipartisan legislation that passed in the U.S. House in August to block changes at the Postal Service made this year and provide $25 billion in funding to the agency. The bill would also require that official election mail be treated as first-class mail.

Wyden said he will work to find bipartisan support to bring the bill to the U.S Senate floor.

“It is outrageous, unacceptable and dangerous that President Trump and the administration are undermining the United States Postal Service, especially during a pandemic,” Bonamici, an Oregon Democrat, said.

The congresswoman also addressed concerns she has received about the condition of the post office in Warrenton and its inability to keep up with the demand of the growing city.

“I understand that resourceful employees have been forced to store mail and packages outside during high-volume periods,” Bonamici said.

“So I’m going to be working with Sen. Wyden to get answers and a better solution for this community that deserves a safe and adequate post office building.”

The elected leaders were joined by Dr. Thomas Duncan, of the Lower Columbia Clinic, who testified about his patients’ dependence on the Postal Service.

“We send reminders of all sorts,” he said. “We receive letters detailing conditions that are too complicated or too personal to be addressed by telephone or in person. We communicate laboratory results and other information between office visits. Many of our patients are dependent on distant pharmacy services for their life-sustaining medicines and other medical supplies and durable medical equipment.

“Many of them are disabled, can’t possibly get out to get this sort of thing, it comes to their doorstep through the U.S. Postal Service.”

Daniel Cortez, the legislative director for the American Postal Workers Union’s Portland local, also spoke in defense of the Postal Service.

“In 2018, this administration called for the privatization of the Postal Service in two separate reports. What’s happening now is just a continuation of that, but on a much larger and grander scale. We’ve been called a joke. We’ve been told we can’t get the funding necessary to serve the American people,” he said.

“It’s the United States Postal Service, not the postal business, it’s not a for-profit entity that is designed to make money. It’s a service to the American people that is enshrined in the Constitution.”

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has told Congress that the Postal Service intends to deliver election mail on time. He described Trump’s comments about mail-in voting as “not helpful,” but defended cost-cutting changes as necessary to make the agency effective.