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Postmaster general urges congressional action on postal reform
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe upped the pressure on lawmakers to pass a postal reform bill on Thursday, saying that the agency needs to put its current problems in the “rearview mirror.”
Donahoe, discussing his agency’s $5.2 billion third-quarter loss, said that USPS was doing what it can to rein in costs.
But the postmaster general added that, with the Postal Service trying to keep customers confident amid a sea of red ink, it needed legislative help on issues like whether to keep Saturday delivery and scheduled prepayments for retiree healthcare.
“Congress needs to act responsibly and move on this legislation,” Donahoe told reporters Thursday. “We can only go so far.”
The Senate passed a bipartisan postal bill in April, and sponsors of that measure and postal officials have urged House Republicans to pass their own measure so the two sides can negotiate a compromise agreement.
But the agency has also said that customers will not see any drop in service because of the missed payments.
With that in mind, House GOP sponsors of the postal legislation don’t expect the postal bill, which would be a tough vote for some of the Republican Conference, to come to the floor until after November’s election.
On Thursday, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), one of the four sponsors of the chamber’s Senate bill, cited the Postal Service’s most recent losses as he again prodded the House to get moving on the upper chamber's measure.
“I'm not sure how much more evidence leaders in the House of Representatives need before they realize that the Postal Service is in dire straits and that the need for them to act on comprehensive postal reform legislation is urgent,” Carper said in a statement.
For his part, Donahoe has said that he believes the best parts of the House and Senate bills could give his agency long-term stability. In all, USPS has said it needs to shave $22.5 billion from its annual ledger by 2016.
The Senate bill, for instance, would make the healthcare prepayments more manageable. More than half of USPS’s third-quarter losses were related to the healthcare prepayments, which Donahoe stressed was not required of any other agency.
Over on the House side, the GOP bill would allow USPS to more quickly cut costs — including giving the agency more leeway to move to five-day delivery.
House Republicans have also said that the Senate bill alone does not do enough to rein in postal spending.
Postal officials have also moved to consolidate mail processing centers, and to shorten hours at some local post offices.
And while Donahoe has blamed online communication for the decline in first-class mail volume, postal officials have also said that Internet shopping and delivery of prescription drugs offers new package shipping opportunities for his agency.
“There is plenty of upside,” Donahoe said. “And getting people off of the subject of ‘When are you going to run out of money?’ and ‘Are you going to be able to make a payment?’ — you know, that needs to be resolved.”
For their part, postal unions and more liberal lawmakers have said that, while they also want the prepayment scrapped, postal management is too focused on cutting costs and not enough on raising new revenues.
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