Sabotaging public services is not the mark of a country that's doing well.

Innovating, expanding, and modernizing them is. And we're perfectly capable of doing that with the Postal Service.

Mail delivery isn't some nice-to-have part of American life – it's an essential public service that millions rely on.

For rural folks especially, we need the USPS to deliver medications, to vote, to be connected to other government services, or just stay connected to friends and family. It's the place that will deliver your mail no matter how "middle of nowhere" you are.

Small businesses need an affordable and reliable USPS to ship goods, order supplies, reach new customers outside of their immediate area, and expand their business.

With fewer local pharmacies around these days, a lot of rural folks – especially veterans and older Americans – receive all of their medications and medical supplies through USPS.

And, the Postal Service is a source of good-paying jobs with benefits for workers without college degrees. USPS helps raise wages and standard of living everywhere they operate.

Trump and Musk want to privatize, deregulate, and outsource mail service, because that's what's best for their bottom line, not ours.

The push for privatization won't bring better or cheaper services to more people, it will hollow out an American institution and leave consumers with higher prices, unreliability, and denial of service as soon as it doesn't make financial sense to deliver mail to your rural community.

Let's expand, let's modernize, and let's invest in a Postal Service that works for all of us.

Heidi

Heidi Heitkamp, Former U.S. Senator for North Dakota
Founder, One Country Project