HOUSTON — While in Houston for an event Monday, Sen. Ted Cruz spoke to KHOU 11 about the USPS mail delays at two Houston-area processing centers.
We asked the senator if he was aware of what was happening, and what he was doing to hold the postal service accountable.
He said his team was "leaning in" to try and speed things up.
"Look, the mail delays are a very serious problem," he said. "We are seeing them both in Houston, we are also seeing them in the DFW area. I can tell you my staff is leaning in aggressively and we are speeding it up. People rely on the mail for social security checks and they rely on the mail for prescription drugs and they rely on the mail for all sorts of essentials and we need to get to the problem and fix it."
KHOU 11 reporter Stephen Goin tried to get Cruz to clarify what exactly he meant by leaning in and asking specifically what he was doing to fix the problem. Cruz still did not provide a detailed response.
Last month, Cruz said he and his team will be monitoring the situation to ensure USPS returns to on-time deliveries.
"Long-term delays are inexcusable, and I’m focused on ensuring that USPS lives up to its mission and delivers for Texans," he said in a statement released on Jan. 22.
Sen. John Cornyn was also present at the same event with Cruz but he left before we could ask him about USPS.
However, in a letter obtained by KHOU 11 Monday, Cornyn expressed his concerns about the extended mail delays.
Cornyn wrote the letter along with Rep. Michael McCaul - it was addressed to U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
In the letter, the Texas lawmakers referenced the recent problems at Houston mail facilities including the "poor planning" that caused USPS to "fail" when they tried to install a new sorting machine in Houston.
Sources have previously revealed that the incident happened just before the holidays at the North Houston mail processing facility.
In the letter, Cornyn and McCaul acknowledged that specific equipment issues arose as part of DeJoy's 10-year plan to modernize the postal service.
"Postal workers on the ground providing delivery services, must be given sufficient, updated resources and management to fulfill their duties. However, if these modernization efforts lead to delays, they must be addressed immediately so as not to disrupt their communities," they wrote.
Cornyn and McCaul also asked DeJoy several questions at the end of their letter, including what USPS is doing to address the mail delays in Houston and prevent them from happening in other parts of the country.
Are you having issues with the post office? Send an email to mailproblems@khou.com and let us know. You can see our coverage of delays at Houston-area USPS processing centers on KHOU.com/PostalProblems.