Postal Service roundup: Op-eds say it's a rural lifeline; Sen. Rand Paul suggests reducing delivery days for rural areas

Much has been written in recent weeks about the U.S. Postal Service and its outsized role in rural America. Here are some pieces of interest:

The Postal Service is a "vital lifeline" for Trump's rural Republican base, and the current uproar could damage his and other GOP lawmakers' re-election bids in battleground states and voting districts, Bloomberg News reports. Read more here.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has suggested cutting the number of days rural Americans get postal deliveries, The Associated Press reports. Read more here.

In an essay for The Atlantic, Kentucky author Silas House shares examples from his time as a rural mail carrier to illustrate the importance of the Postal Service to rural folks, and writes that the Trump administration's actions are an attack on rural America. Read more here.

Further privatization of the Postal Service will have a more widespread effect on American life than many people understand, according to an op-ed in The Conversation. Read more here.

Rural Americans are voicing their displeasure with delays in mail service, NPR reports.

Rob Larew, president of the National Farmers Union, writes in an op-ed for The Daily Yonder that the election isn't the only reason the Postal Service matters to rural residents. Read more here.

Another op-ed for the Yonder explores the importance of the Postal Service to rural residents.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and the head of the board that hired him testified today before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. A leaked internal performance report showed that "on time" delivery of first-class mail was down about 8 percent since DeJoy's arrival, "on time" delivery of periodicals was down about 9.5%, The Rural Blog reports here.