Everybody likes donuts. The only thing better than a donut is a free donut. Well, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance Foundation is serving free donut

Everybody likes donuts. The only thing better than a donut is a free donut. Well, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance Foundation is serving free donuts next week (Wednesday September 14th) on Capitol Hill (1st and C street SE) from 10:30 to 2:30. This is part of TPAF’s educational campaign regarding cybersecurity, the App Security Project, and how the wrong legislation can leave a hole in cybersecurity (see what I did there?). Full menu (details) can be found here ([link removed]) . We are looking forward to seeing everybody there. We really hope that Congress doesn’t glaze over the issue of cybersecurity. I swear, that’s the last pun. Hope to see you at 1st and C street SE, Wednesday from 10:30 to 2:30.

Time for Postal Innovation

For most Americans, depositing mail at the post office doesn’t put too many miles on the odometer. In fact, there are more than 30,000 post offices across the country, and 95% of the population lives within five miles of a post office. Some of these post offices may soon stop offering comprehensive services to consumers. Recently, advocacy group Save the Post Office released a map of the first 144 offices that would lose carrier operations and see staff and service cutbacks under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s “Delivering for America” (DFA) plan. While it’s easy (lazy) to institute service cutbacks to save money, the United States Postal Service (USPS) would be far better off embracing innovative business arrangements instead. The Postmaster General needn’t sacrifice the agency’s credibility in the name of solvency.

Post office rollbacks or even closures are often justifiable. A 2021 report by the USPS Inspector General notes that, “Among nearly 13,000 underwater post offices, one-quarter are within three miles of another post office and more than half are within five miles.” America’s mail carrier could shutter thousands of post offices that are losing money while maintaining easy access to nearby post offices. The problem is that postal leadership is significantly paring back operations in large clusters instead of singling out poorly performing offices. Even if the USPS could carry out a finely tuned closure/consolidation program, there’s far more the agency can do to get back into the black. The USPS can save money on carrier operations by taking a page from its private competitors and contracting out some “last-mile” operations. Fortunately, the USPS does have a program in place to contract out last-mile deliveries to private individuals and shippers.

The USPS could also enter partnerships with companies with large retail footprints to save on large and fixed infrastructure costs. The biggest roadblock to this money-saving alternative is the power of postal unions. When USPS and Staples kicked off a pilot program in 2013 to provide postal services at hundreds of the retailer’s locations, the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) cried foul and launched protests and legal actions against the agency. The promising partnership, which lowered costs for the USPS and expanded options for consumers, was finally killed by a 2016 National Labor Relations Board ruling instigated by the powerful union. Future pilot programs could realistically pick up where the USPS-Staples partnership left off. But, this would take sustained dialogue between the USPS, its most powerful unions, and Congress to foster a compromise that would make everyone happy. Despite the inevitable objections that would be raised to these changes, retail partnerships and private
contracting are far better alternatives to the status-quo of service slowdowns and cutbacks. The USPS must continue to deliver for the American people even when the going gets tough.

Broadband Funding Concerns

There have been billions of taxpayer dollars appropriated by the federal government to close the digital divide and bring broadband internet to unserved areas. But, of course, whenever taxpayer money is spent, there needs to be oversight. A group of Republican senators is concerned that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is imposing rules on broadband deployment funding in the infrastructure bill that encourages the growth of government-owned networks (GONs) and imposes pricing standards that runs contrary to the law passed by Congress. Thirteen senators co-signed a letter to Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in August asking for changes to the NTIA’s Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) regarding internet funding in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. Led by Susan Collins (R-Maine), the coalition argues that NTIA’s plan “undermines or conflicts with congressional intent” and hopes “that NTIA will expeditiously publish
revisions and clarifications to the NOFO to address the…concerns.” The letter argues that NTIA is supposed to distribute the funds equitably and without discrimination, but the NTIA funding notice does not create such a level playing field. The notice pushes for the incorporation of “non-traditional broadband providers” such as municipalities, cooperatives, Native American tribes and nonprofits by requiring that final proposals include a description by states of how they ensured the participation of those entities. In fact, states must justify awards to traditional broadband providers as the NOFO requires them to explain grants to that category if at least one non-traditional provider has submitted a competing proposal.

The senators note that the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) prohibits the preemption of state laws regarding the formation of government-owned broadband networks, but the NTIA’s funding notice strongly encourages states to waive such laws for this broadband funding. This provision could affect some 20 states that prohibit or limit government internet networks. The senators also point out that the NOFO reeks of rate regulation. IIJA prohibits the NTIA from regulating broadband service rates and the letter points out that Raimondo recognized this provision in testimony before Congress in April. But the NOFO suggests a price point of $30 for states to use as a standard for low-cost options, which “appears to be an attempt to pressure Eligible Entries to set rates deemed appropriate by NTIA,” the letter states. The senators point out that providers currently offer low-cost options as a condition of some of the federal funding they already receive through various programs. The
funding notice also prohibits all pricing options based on data usage, a common factor that providers use for different tiers of service. The senators point out this provision “could discourage provider participation by conditioning grants on substantial changes to their current practices.”

The letter also notes that NTIA’s requitement that providers offer low-cost, high-speed plans to all middle-class households via BEAD-funded networks is an indirect form of rate regulation, especially given that the law has no term for middle-class affordability plans. The senators say that as part of IIJA, Congress established the Affordable Connectivity program at the Federal Communications Commission so that eligible households can get a $30 monthly credit to any internet service offering. The law also required providers receiving BEAD funding to offer a low-cost broadband service option for low-income consumers. Hopefully, Secretary Raimondo will heed the call of the Republican senators and re-examine the NOFO requirements. There are clearly some contradictions with congressional intent that will only harm the goal of closing the digital divide.


BLOGS:

Tuesday: TPA Slams the ‘Journalism Competition and Preservation Act’ ([link removed])

Thursday: The Money is Flowing but the Water is Not ([link removed])

Friday: Op-Ed: With Facebook’s Censor of Hunter Biden Story, Government Is the Problem ([link removed])
MEDIA:

September 5, 2022: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about housing issues in Baltimore.

September 6, 2022: The Daily Mail ([link removed]) quoted TPA in their article, “Biden's student loan ploy could cost $1TRILLION: Budget predictions reveal staggering new total that undermines the White House claims it will all be paid with deficit reduction.”

September 6, 2022: City A.M. ran TPA’s op-ed, “Smoking laws light up the path for a small government.” ([link removed])

September 7, 2022: RealClearMarkets ([link removed]) ran TPA’s op-ed, “With Facebook's Censor of Hunter Biden Story, Government Is the Problem.”

September 7, 2022: Dan Savickas joined The Barrett Brief (New Orleans, La.) to discuss the ‘Journalism Competition and Preservation Act’

September 8, 2022: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about Congress passing a continuing resolution to fund the government.

September 8, 2022: I appeared on WBOB 600 AM (Jacksonville, Fla.) to talk about housing and inflation.

September 8, 2022: TPA was quoted in a story from WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) titled, “Some question decision to spend $33,000 to send Baltimore Rec and Park staff to convention.” ([link removed])

September 8, 2022: TPA was mentioned in CStore Decisions’ ([link removed]) story titled, “Opportunity in Nicotine-Free Smoking Alternatives.”

Have a great weekend!
Best,
David Williams
President
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
1101 14th Street, NW
Suite 1120
Washington, D.C. xxxxxx
www.protectingtaxpayers.org ([link removed])


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