Time to Get Real About Funding the USPS
It seems just a bit precious for four House members to sponsor a nonbinding resolution calling for the U.S. Postal Service to “take all appropriate measures” to keep delivering mail six days a week but not offering any substantial help to do so.
If the USPS is forced to take the highly unlikely step of cutting out a delivery day (ostensibly to save money, but that’s debatable), do these Congresspeople think this resolution will cover their collective hindquarters if the public goes ballistic at a reduction of what’s probably the only government service everybody trusts?
According to the resolution, authored by Rep. Sam Graves, the Missouri Republican, six-day delivery provides “an essential service” for working families that depend on the postal service for paychecks.”
Not to mention the lifeline it provides senior citizens and others who must rely on mailed Social Security checks to stay alive.
Or to the mailing industry that’s come to depend on it. (Yes, some mailing groups have said they might be able to adapt to one less delivery day but chances are it would really hurt).
Let’s get real.
How can the USPS take “appropriate measures” if it remains hobbled by the $5.8 billion healthcare obligation for retired postal workers it must prepay every year?
When Postmaster General Jack Potter pitched the delivery cutback idea to the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management in late January, he repeated his contention that the USPS is alone with this burden.
“No other entity—public or private—is required to pay this health benefit obligation at these extremely high levels,” he told the panel.
If that’s true, why can’t Rep. Graves and the others propose real legislation that would let the USPS do its job instead of putting forth something that sounds good back home but is essentially worthless?
