{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hawley.senate.gov/youve-exhausted-my-patience-hawley-presses-usps-for-answers-behind-new-postal-plan-harms-to-rural-america/", "\u2018You\u2019ve Exhausted my Patience\u2019: Hawley Presses USPS for Answers Behind New Postal Plan & Harms to Rural America", "2024-12-05", "2024", "2024-12", "Republican", "Senate", "MO", "Josh Hawley", "H001089", "www.hawley.senate.gov", "hawley", "https://www.hawley.senate.gov/press-releases/page/", "scraper", "U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) today pressed Louis DeJoy, United States Postal Service (USPS) CEO and Postmaster General, on his agency\u2019s Regional Transportation Optimization plan\u2014a new delivery strategy that would disproportionately affect rural post offices, including 754 of Missouri\u2019s 926 post offices.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m going to work with everybody I can across this dais to protect delivery to rural America, and if I have to go down with the ship, I\u2019ll go down with the ship,\u201d Senator Hawley stated. \u201cBut, I\u2019m going to do everything I can to kill [the Regional Transportation Optimization plan].\n\nSenator Hawley went on to cite the Missouri Farm Bureau and rural electric cooperatives\u2019 opposition to the new USPS plan.\n\nSenator Hawley also pointed to postal delays across Kansas City and the USPS\u2019 failure to reopen the Baring, Mo., post office, telling DeJoy that his patience\u2014and that of all Missourians\u2019\u2014has been exhausted.\n\n\u201cIf I\u2019m successful, rural America will get its mail delivered on time, which it\u2019s currently not,\u201d Senator Hawley explained.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve got the Baring, Mo., post office, which has been completely decimated for two solid years, that has now been rebuilt by a private party that your agency still has not cleared and opened,\u201d he continued.\n\nSenator Hawley has introduced the Rural Post Office Reconstruction Act to establish a clear timeframe for reopening rural post offices that experience closure due to natural disaster damage or other unforeseen circumstances.\n\nHis introduction of the legislation came after an EF-2 tornado destroyed the Baring, Mo., post office, in addition to damaging nearby homes and businesses.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:07:19Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hawley.senate.gov/youve-exhausted-my-patience-hawley-presses-usps-for-answers-behind-new-postal-plan-harms-to-rural-america/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7567801512777805, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}