Afternoon rally to save U.S. Postal Service
By: Chelsea Rarrick
Updated: September 27, 2011
September 27th has been designated by some postal workers as a day to "Save the U.S. Postal Service."
A rally was held this afternoon in Utica outside of Congressman Richard Hanna's office.
The rally had two particular goals. One was to inform the people of the financial situation with The U.S. Postal Offices, and the other was to get those to support the H.R. 1351 Bill.
The bill would allow over-payments to meet the Postal Service's financial obligations.
Rally participant, William Cook wanted people in the area to be aware of the U.S. Postal Service's pending danger.
"The importance of this rally is to raise public visibility and awareness of the facts surrounding the financial problems of the postal service," said Cook.
Cook, along with many others gathered on Genesee St. circulated petitions for those walking by to get the message out that Congress needs to act on a bill to save the post office.
Bill Gainey of the National Association of Letter Carriers, says the H.R. 1351 Bill would justify funding requirements for the postal service and meet it's financial obligations.
"We're hoping to get the correct message that congress needs to act out on H.R. 1351," said Cook.
"We want to thank Richard Hanna for stepping up to the plate co-sponsoring this legislation. We're just getting awareness to the rest of Congress. We have 215 Congressmen on board with co-sponsoring this right now," said Gainey.
Although he is happy with Hanna's actions, Gainey says part of the problem is from a bill that was passed by Congress in 2006 that is pushing The U.S. Postal Service into bankruptcy and that mandated a $5.5 billion payment every year.
"Without that payment, we would have a $6 million profit over the last four years, even during these economic times we would have been a profitable company," said Gainey.
Those who were at the rally Tuesday afternoon wanted people to understand the message they were trying to send out.
Cook says the postal service is not broke and that they have made a profit in the last four years.
Bill Gainey also says he is hoping to get the bill passed by congress quickly to get the postal business back in order.
A rally was held this afternoon in Utica outside of Congressman Richard Hanna's office.
The rally had two particular goals. One was to inform the people of the financial situation with The U.S. Postal Offices, and the other was to get those to support the H.R. 1351 Bill.
The bill would allow over-payments to meet the Postal Service's financial obligations.
Rally participant, William Cook wanted people in the area to be aware of the U.S. Postal Service's pending danger.
"The importance of this rally is to raise public visibility and awareness of the facts surrounding the financial problems of the postal service," said Cook.
Cook, along with many others gathered on Genesee St. circulated petitions for those walking by to get the message out that Congress needs to act on a bill to save the post office.
Bill Gainey of the National Association of Letter Carriers, says the H.R. 1351 Bill would justify funding requirements for the postal service and meet it's financial obligations.
"We're hoping to get the correct message that congress needs to act out on H.R. 1351," said Cook.
"We want to thank Richard Hanna for stepping up to the plate co-sponsoring this legislation. We're just getting awareness to the rest of Congress. We have 215 Congressmen on board with co-sponsoring this right now," said Gainey.
Although he is happy with Hanna's actions, Gainey says part of the problem is from a bill that was passed by Congress in 2006 that is pushing The U.S. Postal Service into bankruptcy and that mandated a $5.5 billion payment every year.
"Without that payment, we would have a $6 million profit over the last four years, even during these economic times we would have been a profitable company," said Gainey.
Those who were at the rally Tuesday afternoon wanted people to understand the message they were trying to send out.
Cook says the postal service is not broke and that they have made a profit in the last four years.
Bill Gainey also says he is hoping to get the bill passed by congress quickly to get the postal business back in order.
