H.R. 8599

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8599 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8599

To direct the United States Postal Service to submit a report to 
Congress on mail and package delivery service performance in the St. 
Louis region, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

April 30, 2026

Mr. Bell (for himself, Mrs. Wagner, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Bost, and Ms. 
Budzinski) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To direct the United States Postal Service to submit a report to 
Congress on mail and package delivery service performance in the St. 
Louis region, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``St. Louis Postal Accountability and 
Reform Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:
(1) The United States Postal Service serves as a critical 
piece of social and economic infrastructure for millions of 
residents and businesses in the St. Louis metropolitan area.
(2) In August and September of 2025, the United States 
Postal Service Office of Inspector General published two audit 
reports in response to congressional inquiries from Senators 
and Representatives from Missouri and Illinois: the Office of 
Inspector General Audit Report 25-097-R25, ``Efficiency of 
Operations at the St. Louis Processing and Distribution Center, 
St. Louis, MO'' and the Office of Inspector General Audit 
Report 25-100-R25, ``Kansas-Missouri District: Delivery 
Operations--St. Louis, MO''.
(3) The Office of Inspector General found that the Kansas-
Missouri District ranked among the lowest-performing postal 
districts in the country for mail delivery from May through 
July 2025, averaging 4th out of 50 districts nationwide, and 
below average for package delivery during the same period.
(4) The Office of Inspector General identified over 89,000 
pieces of delayed mail across seven audited delivery units on a 
single morning in June 2025, the majority of which went 
unreported in the United States Postal Service's internal 
tracking system, limiting management's ability to identify and 
address service failures.
(5) The Office of Inspector General found that the St. 
Louis Processing and Distribution Center missed its letter 
processing clearance time target more than half of the days 
reviewed between February and April 2025, and identified 
millions of delayed mailpieces during a site visit in June 
2025.
(6) The Office of Inspector General found that staffing 
shortfalls, including high turnover, elevated vacancy rates, 
and workforce availability below the United States Postal 
Service's own goals, contributed to operational challenges at 
both the St. Louis Processing and Distribution Center and 
Kansas-Missouri District delivery units.
(7) The operational challenges identified in the 2025 
audits are consistent with deficiencies documented in a prior 
Office of Inspector General audit of the St. Louis Processing 
and Distribution Center in July 2022, and Congress has an 
obligation to ensure that corrective actions are implemented 
and that St. Louis-area residents and businesses receive the 
reliable postal service they are entitled to.

SEC. 3. REPORT ON MAIL AND PACKAGE DELIVERY SERVICE PERFORMANCE IN THE 
ST. LOUIS REGION.

Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the Postmaster General shall submit, to the Committee on Oversight and 
Government Reform of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, a report 
evaluating First-Class Mail service performance in the St. Louis region 
for fiscal years 2023, 2024, and 2025. Such report shall include--
(1) a comparison of on-time delivery performance for First-
Class Mail, Marketing Mail, Priority Mail, and Ground Advantage 
products in the St. Louis region against--
(A) the national average;
(B) similarly sized postal processing districts; 
and
(C) the Kansas-Missouri District's own performance 
in prior years;
(2) an explanation of the causes of any service performance 
in the District that lags behind national averages;
(3) an analysis of workforce conditions across the St. 
Louis Processing and Distribution Center and Kansas-Missouri 
District delivery units, including--
(A) vacancy rates by position type, including 
clerks, mail handlers, carriers, maintenance personnel, 
and supervisors;
(B) turnover rates for carriers and clerks;
(C) absenteeism and unscheduled leave rates; and
(D) the operational impact of workforce shortages 
on mail processing, transportation, and delivery;
(4) an assessment of the accuracy of delayed mail reporting 
in the Delivery Condition Visualization system and the Mail 
Condition Visualization system across the Kansas-Missouri 
District, including a description of any systemic 
underreporting and the steps taken to correct it; and
(5) the status of corrective actions taken in response to 
deficiencies identified in the Office of Inspector General 
Audit Reports 25-097-R25 and 25-100-R25, including--
(A) progress toward filling vacancies at the St. 
Louis Processing and Distribution Center and Kansas-
Missouri District delivery units;
(B) improvements to preventative maintenance 
completion rates on automated equipment;
(C) load and unload scan compliance trends;
(D) outbound trip on-time, cancellation, and extra-
trip rates;
(E) package scanning accuracy across Kansas-
Missouri District delivery units; and
(F) implementation of the 12 recommendations issued 
in the Office of Inspector General Audit Report 25-097-
R25 and the 2 recommendations issued in the Office of 
Inspector General Audit Report 25-100-R25.

SEC. 4. ACCOUNTABILITY.

The Postmaster General shall include in the report required under 
section 3 a description of the management accountability systems in 
place at the St. Louis Processing and Distribution Center and Kansas-
Missouri District delivery units to prevent recurrence of the 
operational deficiencies identified in the Office of Inspector General 
Audit Reports 25-097-R25 and 25-100-R25, including--
(1) the performance metrics and oversight structures used 
to monitor mail processing, transportation, and delivery 
operations on an ongoing basis at the St. Louis Processing and 
Distribution Center and Kansas-Missouri District delivery 
units;
(2) the steps taken to ensure that delayed mail is 
accurately reported in the Delivery Condition Visualization and 
Mail Condition Visualization systems across all Kansas-Missouri 
District delivery units, and the mechanisms in place to verify 
reporting accuracy at the district, area, and headquarters 
levels; and
(3) the processes in place to ensure that staffing 
shortfalls are identified and addressed in a timely manner, 
including recruitment, retention, and workforce planning 
strategies specific to the St. Louis region.
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