Immediate Bipartisan Congressional Action is Crucial to Saving Jobs

Binghamton, NY -- Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) today vowed bipartisan congressional action to fight against the proposed closure of the Binghamton mail Processing and Distribution Center. The center has been included on a list of 223 processing centers slated for closure by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) starting in May 2012. Hinchey has been a staunch opponent of ending mail processing and distribution activities in Binghamton, which employ dozens of area workers. He is also working to pass legislation to address the underlying financial troubles faced by USPS.

"The Postal Service has failed to justify ending processing and distribution activities in Binghamton, and I'm going to do everything I can to block their efforts," said Hinchey. "They've said publicly that a closure moratorium is in place until May, but they're already laying the groundwork to shift around resources and workers. They've said that consolidation with Syracuse will save money, but they have yet to publicly release the data or the assumptions that caused them to arrive at this conclusion. In fact, the only way to consolidate these centers is to lengthen first class delivery times, making USPS even less competitive. Closing the Binghamton facility would be a huge mistake and a waste of resources. We need immediate bipartisan congressional action or else dozens of workers will lose their jobs and postal services throughout our communities will be downgraded."

In December 2011, Hinchey urged Postmaster General Donahoe to prevent the closure of the Binghamton center after the USPS initiated an Area Mail Processing (AMP) study to consider consolidation with a similar facility in Syracuse, New York. Later that month, Hinchey sent another letter to Donahoe signed by 37 other House members opposing the proposed closure of mail processing and distribution centers nationwide.

Hinchey is a cosponsor of legislation designed to help ease the financial challenges currently faced by USPS. The United States Postal Service Pension Obligation Recalculation and Restoration Act of 2011 (H.R. 1351) would free up billions in financial resources for USPS for years to come. Under current law, the Postal Service is required to pre-fund health care benefits of future retirees at a cost of over $5 billion annually. H.R. 1351 would help reduce the financial burden of this requirement by allowing the Postal Service to use billions of dollars in overpayments to their pension fund to pre-fund healthcare benefits of future retirees. The legislation is strongly supported by the National Association of Letter Carriers.

Hinchey has also joined several of his U.S. House colleagues in introducing the Postal Service Protection Act - legislation designed to alleviate the U.S. Postal Service's (USPS) immediate financial crisis and prevent the layoff of thousands of USPS employees nationwide.