Texas Congress members to hold briefing with USPS officials to address ongoing mail delays

MISSOURI CITY, Texas (KBTX) – District 17 Congressman Pete Sessions along with Congressmen Al Green and Troy Nehls, are set to tour a Houston USPS processing center Thursday to learn more about delivery delays impacting Texas.

The Missouri City, TX facility, identified as the source of ongoing issues, has raised concerns among residents and businesses across the Brazos Valley and Central Texas for months.

In early February KBTX spoke with a Leon County resident who waited over 30 days for delivery of heart medication that was shown on hold at the postal processing center in Missouri City.

Earlier this month Congressman Michael McCaul from the Brazos Valley and Senator John Cornyn from Texas sent a letter to the Postmaster General expressing their concerns. The lawmakers say they have received multiple reports from constituents who have experienced delays.

Their letter said in part, “Our constituents depend on USPS to carry out these services in a timely and efficient manner. When this mission cannot be completed, customer service representatives must be available to address the issue, and the agency must be transparent regarding delays or changes in services.”

It’s believed these delays are caused by failure to implement new processing technology. They are calling for more public transparency to affected customers.

The United States Postal Service previously released a statement about the issues.

“We are aware of concerns from some local Houston customers regarding their mail delivery. We want customers to know that we continue the expansion of our operations in the Houston area because of increased volume and we are adding additional capacity with a new facility to improve service. The Postal Service has dispatched additional resources from the surrounding area and implemented improved processes to address the root causes of sporadic issues to improve the reliability of mail delivery in the Houston area. Customers should also note that multiple severe weather events in Houston and across the nation have impacted many transportation, logistics, and delivery companies, and the Postal Service is no exception. We express our apologies to those who experienced a deviation from our normal dependable service and customers should already see improvements in delivery as we work through these issues.”

Thursday’s site visit will not be the first for some state and federal leaders. Congressmen Randy Webber of Beaumont and Morgan Lutrell who represent parts of Walker and Montgomery Counties held a press conference outside the facility earlier this month after being denied access. Rep. Al Green, a Houston-area congressman also spoke out about the ongoing shipping delays at the facility. During a press conference, he called on the postal service to take action and be transparent with customers experiencing delays.

“When they have a line of credit with the federal government, they ought to be standing before the cameras answering these questions. And we’re going to push them in that direction,” Green said.

“You have to assume that every package is important. Every package may have something that can actually have a circumstance associated with a person’s life,” Green added.

While the briefing and site tour are not open to the public or media, the congressmen plan to meet with reporters afterward to discuss potential solutions.

“It is important that the post office deliver on time the packages, and I can understand a day or two off, I cannot understand a week or longer, and so this, this was something that is very important that we get corrected,” said Rep. Sessions.

KBTX will be on-site in Missouri City, seeking answers from the representatives, with updates on News Three at Six.

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