Congressman Protests Postal Cuts to USPS Chief in Letter — That Takes 2 Weeks to Arrive

A U.S. congressman trying to save a mail processing facility in his Wisconsin district sent a letter to the Postmaster General asking for an extension to a comment period on a proposal to close the plant.

But the letter, mailed from Rep. Tom Petri's Washington office on Dec. 14, didn't reach Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe, whose office is in the same city, until Dec. 30, Petri's staff says.

The comment period for closing Oshkosh's mail processing facility was extended but Petri wants to know why it took so long for his request to arrive.

"It speaks for itself, doesn't it," Petri spokesman Niel Wright told FoxNews.com.

Talaya Simpson, a government relations representative with the Postmaster General, replied in a letter dated Jan. 13 and obtained by FoxNews.com that says she spoke to Petri's staff on Dec. 30 regarding the comment period. But she didn't say what the holdup was on Petri's request.

"What we speculate here is it was probably tied up in security screenings," Wright said, adding that the postmaster general's staff told Petri's office that the request didn't "land on the appropriate person's desk until that day."

Wright said his office also faxed the postmaster general the letter "but they had no indication that they had received it. They were unaware of it. It probably got misdirected somehow, assuming it went through."

Wright said he wouldn't kick the post office while it's down. The Postal Service lost $8.5 billion last year despite deep cuts of more than 100,000 jobs and other reductions in recent years.

"I'm not inclined to start causing problems for folks at the post office," he said. "We just want to work with them as best we can."