Post Office Designations and Establishing New Zip Codes

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, ZIP Codes are used to organize our country to ensure the effective and efficient delivery of the mail to millions of Americans. The Postal Service has the authority to establish ZIP Codes and to adjust their boundaries based on changes in delivery and volume or operational concerns. However, communities, businesses, and other local entities can also voice their concerns about ZIP Code boundaries and petition for corresponding adjustments.

H.R. 6303 would make such adjustments by requiring the Postal Service to establish new ZIP Codes for five communities that have each requested, and subsequently been denied, ZIP Code changes. These communities have based their ZIP Code requests on delays in mail delivery and emergency service response times, the denial or inconsistent application of services to their communities, and other similar community concerns.

These are important issues and they should be addressed accordingly. The Postal Service has worked with affected communities to find solutions, and I commend those efforts by the Postal Service.

The Oversight and Government Reform Committee has also worked to find solutions to these concerns in its proposed postal reform legislation, and, in fact, most of these would receive unique ZIP Codes as part of that bill. That is why I support H.R. 6303 today.

Finally, I want to highlight my strong support for the language in this bill before us today that would name ten post offices after honorable men and women, all of whom made important contributions to our Nation. Individual legislation allowing for the naming of those postal facilities has already passed the House and is simply awaiting action in the Senate.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source