CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSADIO) -- The House has voted to restore funding for the US Postal Service, but the bill faces an uphill fight in the Senate.
Monday afternoon, elected officials in the Chicago area got together to try to influence the outcome.
Democratic Congressman Bobby Rush referred to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as “Mitch the Merciless.”
Rush and other Democrats brought South Side resident Patricia Moore. She said her mail-order blood pressure prescription was so delayed she had only one pill left.
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“Finally I got my medication. But I hope and pray in the future that I don’t have to go through all those changes again. Because it’s not good.
“I am a senior citizen. I do want to live as long as I can.”
Congressmen at the news conference said they have gotten thousands of calls from constituents, upset about delays in mail service.
Before March -- prior to the pandemic being felt here in the Chicago area -- Cook County Health officials say less than 1% of mail-order drugs were delayed in the postal system.
Last month, they say, that percentage had grown to 23%.
Democratic Congressman Sean Casten says his office has received 2,000 calls from people complaining about the mail service.