This campaign is built on the idea that it’s not only time to fix what’s deeply broken in our country, but also that it’s actually possible to do so—if our leaders would resolve to solve problems instead of just using those problems to score political points.
So let’s talk about the mail.
Specifically, the United States Postal Service. To do so honestly requires less bluster and more context. For starters, the USPS is as old as the nation itself; older, actually. It was launched by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia on July 26, 1775, at the start of the American Revolution. Benjamin Franklin was our very first postmaster general. Postal service was deemed to be of such high importance that the framers enshrined in the Constitution the power of Congress to establish postal routes and offices.
At its peak in 2001, the USPS delivered 103 billion first-class letters. By 2020, however, due predominantly to the internet, messenger apps, etc., that dropped to 52 billion. Technological advances play a large part in the USPS now operating at an annual loss, including last year, when it was more than $9 billion in the red.
But there’s more than email and online bill pay to this story.
Decades prior to the current financial headwinds facing USPS, President Richard Nixon signed the Postal Reorganization Act in 1970, which required USPS to be self-financing. That requirement—and this is critical to honest analysis—was in direct conflict with its other requirement to provide nationwide service regardless of profit. In 2006, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act limited the services that the Postal Service could offer to only those it already provided, thus curtailing its ability to potentially evolve with the changing market. It also concurrently established a new requirement for USPS to save money for the medical benefits of future retirees, something no other agency or business has been required to do.
Talk about an undeliverable package!
In an effort to adapt, the USPS attempted to consolidate and streamline operations where it could. That’s why the processing center that served North Alabama was shut down in 2011 and operations were moved to Birmingham. Which brings us to this crisis point: Locally, we know that these changes have had an enormous and negative impact on our community, affecting seniors waiting on their medications, bills getting paid late, legal documents getting lost—and the list goes on and on. Folks across the 5th District have been frustrated for years, and understandably so. Predictably, it’s the same across countless areas of the United States.
You’ve Got Dale.
Now, after more than 20 years on the Madison County Commission and 3 1/2 years in Congress—just three months before an election—Representative Dale Strong has decided to “take action.” Ironically, his legislation is called the “PERFORM Act.”
Dale’s proposed “solution” to our mail not being delivered for weeks on end and packages being sorted in the rain? Not paying an annual bonus to the postmaster general if things aren’t fixed.
Please consider:
- The postmaster general’s base salary is $346,780.
- His name is David Steiner, and his estimated net worth is $145 million.
Soooo…yeah, that ought to fix it.
And there’s this as well:
“I would support privatizing the United States Postal Service.” (Dale Strong, August 4, 2026)
Yet another example, along with abdication of war powers and tariffs, of Strong not wanting Congress to be Congress, as was laid out in clear terms by our Constitution.
Return to Sender
Solving problems isn’t easy. It takes sustained work, cooperation and coalition, but it is the job Strong asked for. He’s had years to solve the mail crisis at a local or federal level. Now, come election time, he proposes the perfectly named “PERFORM Act” to potentially dock the pay of yet another government multimillionaire who will miss that money even less than Strong would miss his own paycheck (as he is estimated to be worth more than $20 million himself). All while suggesting that the real solution is to privatize, costing hundreds of good union jobs in our community and removing the mandate that all folks in this country receive affordable, reliable mail service. That’s not leadership. And it’s not a solution.
If I am elected to be your next congressman for the 5th District, I will get to work immediately to deliver a solution for this mail crisis. I’ll diligently work across the aisle on behalf of the great people of North Alabama because that’s how we can actually get things done.
Recently, Strong said, “The number one thing is accountability. Let’s identify the problems and start addressing them.”
For once, Dale and I agree. But I believe we have already identified the primary problem—and it’s that too many members of Congress no longer want to do the difficult work of solving complicated problems in service to their constituents, as laid out by the Constitution.
So, as Dale suggests, let’s start by holding him and Congress accountable.
I’m asking for your vote this November 3. I will not let you down. I understand what’s broken, and when it comes to solving problems, unlike Strong, I will never mail it in.
