Dear MoveOn member,

The Republican crusade to kill the U.S. Postal Service went into overdrive
this week, when Donald Trump installed a top Republican donor as the new
postmaster general.^1

The Postal Service is in crisis, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic
and draconian Republican mandates. It will run out of money between July
and September, at which point its "operations will cease," if Congress
doesn't act.^2

Congress quickly bailed out the airline industry to the tune of $50
billion. That bailout included $4 billion for FedEx and UPS.^3 But Trump
and Republicans in Congress continue to stonewall emergency funding for
the 245-year-old Postal Service. Why? It's all part of their quest to
privatize it.

And now, at this most critical moment in its fight for survival, the
Postal Service will be led by a Trump crony. Trump has gone so far as to
call the Postal Service "a joke."^4

John, we need to fight back—and quickly. There's reason for
optimism: The Postal Service is by far the most popular government agency,
with a 90% approval rating.^5 It's one of the largest employers in the
U.S., with a workforce of 630,000 people, 40% of whom are people of
color.^6 And in an election year, Republicans can't be seen killing the
Postal Service, a lifeline for so many Americans, especially in the middle
of the current pandemic.

That's why MoveOn's work to shine a spotlight on Republican efforts to
kill the Postal Service is so critical. But we urgently need to increase
the pressure on key Republicans by expanding our digital ad campaign and
launching a TV ad campaign in rural parts of key states, where what the
Postal Service does is particularly essential.

On average, MoveOn's monthly donors chip in about $10 a
month. Can you chip in $10 a month to help launch and
sustain MoveOn's all-hands-on-deck efforts to save the Postal Service?

[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in monthly.

[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

The Postal Service serves every American in every community, no matter how
remote their location, six or even seven days a week, and all for the same
price. That includes delivering lifesaving medications—more than 1 billion
prescriptions last year—groceries, mail, census forms, vote-by-mail
ballots, and so much more.^7

And since we don't expect a vaccine for the coronavirus to be widely
available in time for this November's elections, the Postal Service will
be essential to enabling millions of Americans to vote by mail. In the
last two federal elections, about one in four voters cast their ballot by
mail.^8 This November, the vast majority of voters will need to vote by
mail.

But despite the Postal Service's centuries-long service to the American
people, for the last 40 years, Republicans have sought to "starve,
strangle, and sabotage" it.^9 And now, the coronavirus pandemic is giving
a frightening boost to their efforts.

Most Americans don't know it, but the Postal Service doesn't receive a
single taxpayer dollar.^10 It is entirely funded by revenue from the sales
of stamps and postage.

But Congress sets the rules for the Postal Service, and in 2006,
Republicans in a lame-duck session of Congress passed a law forcing the
Postal Service to pre-fund its employee pension and retirement costs,
including health care, for the next 75 years.^11 That means it must fund
retirement accounts for employees who haven't yet been hired—or even born.

The year that mandate passed, the Postal Service made $900 million in
profits; it has not had a single profitable year since.^12

Now, the coronavirus pandemic has caused the volume of mail to plummet,
since the vast majority of mail is sent by businesses, and the Postal
Service is about to run out of money.^13

The Postal Service will not survive the summer without immediate action by
Congress. John, we need your help to turn the heat WAY up on
key Republicans who are blocking emergency funding for the Postal Service.

Can you chip in $10 a month to help MoveOn fight for as long
as it takes to save the Postal Service? (The average gift from a MoveOn monthly donor is about $10
a month, but whatever you can afford will go a long
way.)

[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in monthly to help save the Postal Service.

[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

Thanks for all you do.

–Jenn, Justin, Amy, Karine, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Top Republican fundraiser and Trump ally named postmaster general,
giving president new influence over Postal Service," The Washington Post,
May 6, 2020
[link removed]

2. "The Head of the Postal Workers Union Says the Postal Service Could Be
Dead in Three Months," In These Times, April 16, 2020
[link removed]

3. "Here's a breakdown of the $2T coronavirus bailout," New York Post,
March 27, 2020
[link removed]

4. "Top Republican fundraiser and Trump ally named postmaster general,
giving president new influence over Postal Service," The Washington Post,
May 6, 2020
[link removed]

5. "We Can't Afford to Lose the Postal Service," The New Yorker, May 2,
2020
[link removed]

6. "U.S. Postal Service warns it could run out of money by October," CBS
News, April 10, 2020
[link removed]

7. Ibid.

8. "The False Narrative of Vote-by-Mail Fraud," Brennan Center for
Justice, April 10, 2020
[link removed]

9. "We Can't Afford to Lose the Postal Service," The New Yorker, May 2,
2020
[link removed]

10. Ibid.

11. Ibid.

12. Ibid.

13. Ibid.



Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day
by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage,
defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's
pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must
never give up on. And to do it we need your ongoing support, now more than
ever. Will you stand with us?



[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month.

[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.




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