Rep. Angie Craig Introduces Legislation to Hold USPS Accountable for Unacceptable Postal Performance

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, as the Minnesota-North Dakota region continues to rank in the bottom ten for postal performance across the nation, U.S. Representative Angie Craig (D-MN-02) re-introduced her bill to hold the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) accountable for unacceptable mail delivery service.

Her Postal Delivery Accountability Act would require USPS to notify customers of undelivered and partially delivered routes by zip code, keeping Minnesotans informed of when they can expect their mail to be delivered or delayed. As Minnesotans continue to experience slow delivery, additional public reporting would help increase transparency and accountability for sub-par service from USPS.

Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Tina Smith (D-MN), John Hoeven (R-ND) and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) introduced companion legislation in the Senate.

“For years, Minnesotans have struggled with unacceptable mail delivery service – waiting weeks or longer to receive critical deliveries, like medications, paychecks, ballots and more,” said Rep. Craig. “It’s past time we hold USPS accountable for unacceptable postal performance in the Minnesota-North Dakota region and increase transparency for Minnesotans who deserve to know when they can expect their mail.”

Rep. Craig has consistently spoken out against unacceptable USPS performance in the South Metro and has led the charge to improve mail service and protect USPS from privatization. Local letter carriers and others have also raised the alarm about leadership changes that are impacting morale and culture in Minnesota post offices.

This Congress, Rep. Craig introduced her Deliver for Democracy Act, which would limit price increases on stamps until the USPS can achieve at least a 95% on-time delivery rate for periodicals and require the USPS to report annually to the U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission on its progress – including on-time delivery data for newspapers in its periodical service performance measurement.

Rep. Craig successfully pushed USPS to launch an internal investigation into reports of delayed delivery of the New Prague Times. And last year, she led a resolution urging her Congressional colleagues to take all appropriate measures to reject the privatization of USPS.

Following Rep. Craig’s bipartisan call for a statewide investigation, the USPS OIG announced an investigation into the entire MN-ND postal district.

And in January 2023, she launched an online USPS survey to gauge the extent of postal issues in the Second District and received more than 3,300 responses from Minnesotans. Rep. Craig delivered those responses directly to former Postmaster General DeJoy’s office in Washington DC.

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