Transcript of Bill Enrollment Ceremony For H.R. 3076, Postal Service Reform Act

Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Whip James Clyburn, Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, Chairman Frank Pallone, Congressman Stephen F. Lynch and Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence held a Bill Enrollment Ceremony today for H.R. 3076, the Postal Service Reform Act. Below are the Speaker's remarks:

Speaker Pelosi. This is such an important – it's so important for us to be signing this bill, sending it on to the Senate. The House has to sign it first, then to the Senate, and then to the President. And when we do so, we do so in the spirit of the Postal Service. What is it? ‘Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night shall impede them.' Well, we have not let it impede us.

And I'm going – I'm so grateful to Whip Clyburn – Mr. Clyburn, to Carolyn Maloney, Congressman Pallone – Chairman Pallone, Rep. Lawrence and Rep. Lynch for their leadership on all this. Congresswoman Lawrence worked in the Postal Service, so she could give us –

Congresswoman Lawrence. Thirty years

Speaker Pelosi. Thirty years. How about that? Are we blessed to have had the benefit of that? We were also blessed with the leadership of Elijah Cummings, who worked on this bill for a long time before he left us to dance with the angels. ‘Take care of the children; do better for the children.' And Chairwoman Maloney has been a great leader, fighting for all this. Throughout the whole time, Mr. Clyburn has been a champion on this subject. Thank you for honoring us with your presence, informing us with your leadership all along the way.

Congressman Lynch. Madam Speaker – Gerry Connolly, also. Very, very important. He's in quarantine.

Speaker Pelosi. Oh, he's in in quarantine. Yeah, he was supposed to be with us. I know – working for many years on this subject. He has been relentless on the subject. Thank you for mentioning him. That's right, he would be in quarantine because of his – his trip.

But in any event, whether it was the Energy and Commerce Committee, the personal experience of Congresswoman Lawrence, the – her role on the Appropriations Committee in all of this, Madam Chair of the Committee of Jurisdiction, who was determined to get the job done. And Mr. Lynch who has been a staunch supporter of this, as well, as I mentioned, Mr. Clyburn.

But one of the things that made this possible is not just the maneuvering of the leaders here. It was the outside mobilization. We had – last year, we had a day of action for the Postal Service. It was tremendous. Throughout the country, people spoke out. There was a recognition that, that bill – that more than a billion prescriptions were delivered to our veterans by mail. That's so much communication, especially intensified during COVID, was – made the mail service even more intense. Really, the people saw the Postal Service as their friend in all of this, and the most – the response that we got at, with the mobilization, spoke to that very clearly.

It is – now, let me just say: the Postal Service, as I said, ‘rain, snow,' all of that, but their hands had been tied, threatened the future of this all-American institution because of certain onerous financial restrictions. This historic, bipartisan legislation will strengthen the Postal Service: lifting the financial burdens, giving them more predictability for small businesses, more reliable service for families, more secure future for postal workers.

Congress is honoring our duty to ensure that the Postal Service remains a pillar of our democracy. And by the way, many of our veterans work in the Postal Service. And we heard from many of them along the way, as they delivered prescriptions, Social Security checks, tax returns, absentee ballots and so much more across the nation.

So we're pretty excited about this bill, because it truly hits home. And in recognition of the connection between what we do here and how those benefits are delivered, and how people communicate with each other and how we respect the workers who do that job. I'm very honored to sign this legislation.

And I will be having pens for all of you as I go over it.

Here we are. Here we are with it. We – go over there. Go over there. Madam Chair.

I'm so excited about this, because some of my favorite people in the world are my letter carriers in my neighborhood. Let's hear it for the Postal Service.

[Applause]

And all of that on St. Patrick's Day. Thank you all very much.