Millstadt post office bill is a local example of Congress’ most successful legislation
A bill introduced by Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, to rename Millstadt’s post office after a local Marine who was killed in Iraq is among the most likely types of bills to be signed into law.
The bill, H.R. 8976, would honor Cpl. Matthew Wyatt, who died when a suicide bomber drove a truck into Wyatt’s base in Trebil, Iraq, in December 2004.
Bills renaming locations like post offices make up a tiny amount of all bills introduced during a Congressional term. Despite this, they make up a large portion of the bills that actually become law.
So far, in the 118th U.S. Congress, 78 laws have been passed, meaning they were signed by President Joe Biden. Out of those laws, 13 relate to renaming a location, building or facility — about 16% of all laws signed during this Congress’ term.
In the 117th U.S. Congress, there were 85 laws renaming buildings out of 362 total laws — around 23%, nearly a fourth, of all new laws created between 2021 and 2022.
During his tenure, former President Donald Trump signed 787 bills into law, with 186 of them, about 22%, renaming a location.
These are the bills that became law, however.
During Biden’s term, there have been 327 bills introduced that would rename buildings out of 29,168 bills total as of July 2024. Under Trump, there were 321 renaming bills introduced and 25,359 total bills introduced.
For each of their terms, only 1% of introduced bills were for renaming locations.
The current Congress has had trouble getting legislation through, since Republicans control the House of Representatives while Democrats control the Senate and presidency.
But since this type of legislation does not deal with any sort of political issue, the bills are usually supported by Democrats and Republicans alike.
Despite being proposed by a Republican, the Millstadt bill has every representative in Illinois as a co-sponsor — of which, only three, including Bost, are Republicans. Also, Rep. Kathy Manning, a Democrat from North Carolina, is a co-sponsor and Wyatt’s stepmother is a a congressional fellow in Manning’s office.
Verlene Wyatt, Matthew Wyatt’s mother, had worries that renaming the post office could take a while, since it has to go through the legislative process. A spokesperson for Bost’s office said it had passed initial hurdles, and the congressman, who represents portions of the metro-east, hopes to see more progress later in the year.
As of July 31, 2024, the bill has yet to be passed by the House, according to Congress’ website.
What comes with a renaming
A document from the United States Postal Service’s website says naming post offices has been done since at least 1967. The renaming is usually done by Congress, though sometimes the post office may do it to honor “postal employees who died in the line of duty.”
According to the document, any proposal to rename a post office must be approved by the postmaster general, who is currently Louis DeJoy.
The individual being honored also must be deceased for at least 10 years, with some exceptions for presidents, postmaster generals and others.
A look at two renamed post offices, in Elwood, Illinois, and Fair Haven, Vermont, on Google Maps shows that renaming doesn’t change the external sign to the office.
Two bills, H.R. 700 and H.R. 5245 — made into law during the 117th U.S. Congress and 109th U.S. Congress respectively — named the Elwood and Fair Haven post offices after “Lawrence M. ‘Larry’ Walsh” and “Matthew Lyon.”
The Elwood office sign says, “U.S. Post Office,” and the Fair Haven office sign says, “United States Post Office.”
A postal worker from the Elwood post office said there is a plaque inside for Walsh that displays basic information. However, a postal worker from the Fair Haven post office said there was no plaque or identifier for Lyon that they were aware of.
Currently, the Millstadt post office has a plaque inside that shows it was established in 1961, and names John F. Kennedy, the president at the time.
