Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu Will Visit Lafayette

Senator Mary Landrieu's visit comes as she continues to try to stall postal closures.  She wants the U.S. Postal Service to extend the current moratorium on post office and mail processing facility closures.  The current deadline is May 15th.  One of the changes would been that outgoing mail handled now in Lafayette would be shifted to Baton Rouge, with the possibility that jobs could be lost.

The letter to the Post Master General states,

“While the USPS faces significant financial challenges, we believe that post offices provide social and economic benefits, particularly to rural communities. Rural citizens depend on the mail to manage their lives and stay connected with their government. A 2011 Commerce Department report shows that over 30 percent of U.S households did not have broadband Internet access at home and over 25 percent of households did not even use the Internet. Postal mail remains the one universal service connecting the American people to commerce, government, news, and social and civic institutions.

The Senate, last week, passed the 21st Century Postal Act to overhaul the USPS and put it on the road to financial stability, but she believes closing any facilities before the reform is enacted would be a mistake.  She will be at the Moss Street post office from 2:30 to 3 tomorrow afternoon.