John,
Since 1971, the United States Postal Service has not relied on Congressional appropriations to cover its operating costs.
Recently, however, they have had large financial losses because of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, a 2006 law that requires the Postal Service to pre-fund its retiree health benefits.
The financial burden this Bush-era law created has practically bankrupted the USPS in just 15 years.
That’s why we’re calling on Congress to pass the Postal Service Reform Act and save the USPS!
Twelve years ago, the 111th United States Congress granted a necessary payment deferral, allowing the USPS to pay $4 billion less than they were originally required to pay.
Since then, however, The USPS has been paying billions of dollars a year to fund retiree benefits for postal employees that have not even been born yet.
No other federal agency is required to follow this ridiculous pre-funding mandate and massive corporations do not even cover 100% of the costs of future employees’ health benefits decades in advance.
Now, Trump-appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is using this Republican manufactured crisis to implement aggressive cost-cutting measures that seek to undermine the Postal Service by slowing down our mail and raising prices.
It’s time for Congress to eliminate this pre-funding mandate once and for all and allow the USPS to work the way it is intended to.
Call on Congress to pass the Postal Service Reform Act and save the USPS!
Previously, the postal service would simply fund retiree health benefits on a pay-as-you-go basis, and because they fund their operation mostly through the sales of postage and postal products and services, everything worked well.
Since 2007, however, the agency has had over $40 billion in deficits all because of the Republican mandated advanced funding requirement.
The Postal Service Reform Act would remove this artificial financial burden on the postal service and finally undo the Republican mandate that undermines the financial integrity of the United States Postal Service.
The Postal Service Reform Act would:
- Reduce the Postal Service’s annual operating expenses by eliminating the Republican mandated pre-funding schedule
- Move some USPS retirees on to Medicare, thus further reducing the financial burden of retiree health care costs
- Allow the USPS to offer non-postal services to generate other streams of revenue
To Save the USPS, Congressional action is urgently needed.
Write your Member of Congress today to urge them to demand a floor vote for the Postal Service Reform Act.
Thank you for raising your voice and joining DFA to save the United States Postal Service.
- Tre
Tre Graves
Campaign Organizer
Democracy for America
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