Congress is getting into the act of resisting the Postal Service’s plan to close thousands of post offices.

The Hill reports that Oregon’s Democratic delegation to Congress has called on Postmaster General Donahoe to ensure small towns still have reasonable access to post offices.  In a letter dated Aug. 8, 2011, Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden and Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio and Kurt Schrader said the USPS cuts may be too aggressive and could leave towns without viable alternatives.

Two other congressmen are circulating a letter they’ve written to Ruth Goldway, chair of the Postal Regulatory Commission, and they are asking their colleagues in Congress to sign on with them.  Representatives Gerald E. Connolly (11th District, Virginia) and Don Young (At-Large, Alaska) have expressed their concerns with the Postal Service’s plan, based on the negative impact those closures could have on rural communities, seniors, small businesses, and the long term viability of the Postal Service itself.

The letter states, “We appreciate the dire fiscal condition of the Postal Service and the need to change the Postal Service’s business model to protect its viability and the service it provides to American consumers or businesses.  Unfortunately, widespread post office closures is the wrong way to deal with the Postal Service’s fiscal problems, and could harm the Postal Service’s competitiveness in the long run.”

You can read the entire letter here.

UPDATE: A a bipartisan delegation of lawmakers in Virginia and West Virginia is seeking an examination into the proposed postal closures as well as current spending practices of the U.S. Post Office.  The examination is being jointly sought by U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and U.S. Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va.

More on that story here.