MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2004 Regular Session
To: Rules
By: Senator(s) White, Butler, Dawkins, Frazier, Harden, Harvey, Jackson (11th), Jordan, Little, Williamson
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION URGING THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO REJECT THE POSTAL SERVICE COMMISSION'S RECOMMENDATION WHICH WOULD RESULT IN CLOSING THE ONLY MAIL PROCESSING PLANT IN MISSISSIPPI.
WHEREAS, President Bush's Commission on the United States Postal Service, a special panel formed to come up with suggestions on stopping the hemorrhage of dollars at the postal service, has recommended that the law should be changed to make it easier to close unprofitable processing centers and post offices; and
WHEREAS, Congress would need to approve 18 of the Commission's 35 recommendations. Under current law, the postal service cannot close a facility simply because it is losing money, and public opinion must be considered. The Commission's proposal would eliminate those provisions, and give a 3-person panel authority over the postal service with tremendous power; and
WHEREAS, Congress should not let the postal service close the only mail processing plant in Mississippi, the one named after slain civil rights activist Medgar Evers, which employs 400 to 500 persons in the Jackson area; and
WHEREAS, post offices, especially the little ones in small towns and rural regions, are critical to communities. They are the thread that binds rural communities together, and they account for less than 1 percent of the postal service's budget; and
WHEREAS, if the Medgar Evers Center were to close, the work would be transferred to New Orleans or Memphis to relocate mail processing centers to reflect population changes; and
WHEREAS, Congress will debate on the Commission's proposal, and would be well advised and reject some of the most controversial ideas, such as making it easier for the government to close unprofitable post offices; and
WHEREAS, any move by Congress to privatize or economize the postal service in Mississippi would doom the Medgar Evers facility and have a disastrous effect on the economy of central Mississippi:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, That the State of Mississippi urges the United States Congress to reject the Commission on the United States Postal Service's recommendation which would result in closing the Jackson mail plant, the only mail processing plant in Mississippi.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this resolution shall be sent to the Mississippi Congressional Delegation in Washington, D.C., and be made available to the Capitol Press Corps.