00:00The gentleman, Mr. Infume, the ranking member, my dear friend, you're recognized.
00:06Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank you for the working partnership that we've had on this committee
00:12and the bipartisan manner in which we've tried to deal with a number of different things,
00:18not the least of which is our love and respect for the Postal Service and the men and women that make it work day in and day out.
00:26So I can't underscore enough how I appreciate the testimony and the work of all of you who have come before us today.
00:33Each one of these sessions becomes a learning tool for those of us who sit on this committee
00:39because we don't see everything from every angle.
00:42So your perspective on all these things alone is very, very important.
00:48I think that without a doubt, we are all still astonished by more than a quarter of a million complaints
00:56of mail-in-mail volume receptacle theft that we continue to hear about and read about.
01:02The Postal Service, as has been said, and as we all know, has a constitutional mandate.
01:08It is, in fact, a lifeline for millions and millions of Americans, particularly in rural communities.
01:14And those people who cannot fight and stand up for themselves, but who rely day in and day out on a basic service
01:23that has been so much part and parcel of the fabric of our nation, going all the way back to Benjamin Franklin.
01:30And so it's crucial that the Post Office, in my opinion, has the resources to carry out their mission
01:37and to realize also that, in many respects, this is about data, but it's more than data.
01:46It's also about human beings who are on the other side of the equation.
01:50We refer to them as letter carriers, and they work day in and day out to make sure that the service
01:56that we've come to take for granted is still there.
01:59What we find challenging is the rate of devilish interception and the rate of interception that comes from thieves
02:11and this criminal mindset that if you put up two fences, we want to find a way to scale a third one.
02:19It's trying to get in front of those persons and getting in front of that criminal mind.
02:23It's a real challenge, not just in this matter, but in all matters.
02:28So the more you can work to do that, I think it's clear that the more it's appreciated by a lot of us.
02:35And I've listened, and I'm, you know, this whole issue of Project Safe Delivery, I don't want to undercount it.
02:43I think it's important. The progress that's being made there is important.
02:47I commend the Inspector Generals. Your work is a tough job day in and day out.
02:52But we've got to find a way, I think, Mr. Chairman, to make sure that as we use cutting-edge technology
03:00and as we work to improve data analysis so that we can reduce, if not to some extent,
03:06try to eliminate much of this problem is important.
03:10I can't help but to go back again to letter carriers and what they are faced with in the street.
03:17In my own district in Baltimore, we continue to get reports of assaults and attempted assaults on letter carriers.
03:25I sometimes will get out of my car and talk with one or two of them just for them to feel comfortable enough
03:30to give me a straightforward feel of what they see every day, what they feel in their heart,
03:36what their ideas are on how we can find a way to get a handle on this.
03:40And it's just an amazing kind of testimony.
03:46So when we here on this committee try to deal with this issue openly and objectively in a nonpartisan way,
03:57we really have to be open to every suggestion.
04:00Suggestions on the data side, suggestions on the human side that hopefully will move us forward.
04:07But mail fraud and all that it has brought about is disturbing.
04:12I can't begin to tell you that I listened to a gentlewoman from North Carolina talk about what her experience was back in the 1960s.
04:21So many people have positive experiences with the Postal Service.
04:25The Postal Service rating among Americans has been high for such a long time.
04:30And it's because the Postal Service is a part of the family.
04:34That's how people look at things.
04:35So when I, Mr. Albergo, listened to your testimony, I am reminded of that testimony that I heard from you and from many of your men.
04:47In fact, a year ago or two years ago, they presented me with their badge.
04:54They said, take this, put it in your desk.
04:57Don't ever forget that the Postal Police are out here and that we're out here to service you and to service the country.
05:04I just think we've got to create, Mr. Chairman, a way to give the police clear lines of demarcation so we will know what they can do, what they can't do,
05:15and what we expect them to do and how we're going to support them.
05:20So I would ask all of you what's the number one thing we could do.
05:23I'm sure that's to provide necessary resources.
05:26But above and beyond that, I just want to thank you all for your service.
05:29I want to pledge the commitment of this side of the aisle, as the chairman and I work together on these issues, to try to move a Congress, which is really stratified these days and dug in on different sides of the fence.
05:46We try to find that slither in the middle where most people are, which is where you're governed from, not the far left or the far right, but the middle.
05:55And people expect us to be able, in that middle, to move along in such a way that we create progress.
06:02So I'm sure this is not going to be the last time that we see some of you before the committee.
06:06I would strongly urge, outside of your written testimony, if there are new things that develop over the course of the next couple of months,
06:13that you transmit them to the chairman and myself so they can also take those into consideration.
06:19And where there needs to be clarity on news reports sometimes that are a little ambitious, to say the least,
06:26that you provide us with what the actual facts were and are.
06:30With that, Mr. Chairman, I would yield back the balance of my time.
06:33Thank you again. It's been a good working partnership, and I yield.
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