March 27, 2025
On behalf of the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association (NRLCA), I want to thank Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) for his leadership in introducing a bipartisan Senate resolution (S. Res 147) to protect the United States Postal Service (USPS) from privatization. We also deeply appreciate the bipartisan support from his fellow lead sponsors Senators Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), and Thom Tillis (R-NC) for their commitment to keeping the Postal Service an independent agency dedicated to serving every American.
This resolution comes at a pivotal moment, given the alarming proposals and series of events that indicate the Administration is looking to strip the Postal Service of its independent authority and pave the wave for privatization. Just this week, over 100 rural letter carriers joined forces with our brothers and sisters from the American Postal Workers Union (APWU), the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union (NPMHU) for a rally on Capitol Hill to call on Congress to oppose any attempts to undermine or privatize the Postal Service. This resolution and its counterpart in the House send a clear bipartisan message: the Postal Service must remain a public good – serving all Americans – and not a political tool used by the elite for profit.
We also commend the lead sponsors of House Resolution 70, Representative Stephen F. Lynch (D-MA) and Representatives Nick LaLota (R-NY), Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), and Gerald Connolly (D-VA). Their leadership, along with the more than 175 cosponsors, demonstrates the growing public support against any executive action privatization attempts.
Rural letter carriers are on the front lines, delivering to some of the most remote areas of this country. Privatization would jeopardize affordable, universal mail service and dismantle the essential lifeline that rural Americans rely on. We are grateful for the senators and representatives who have taken a stand, and we will continue to fight alongside them to protect the Postal Service for generations to come.
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The NRLCA represents over 130,000 dedicated career and non-career rural letter carriers who deliver to more than 51 million homes every day. Rural carriers operate out of over 10,000 rural and suburban postal delivery centers, traveling more 3.7 million miles daily to ensure that no community—no matter how remote—is left behind.