The United States Postal service (USPS) is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by our Constitution. This self-sufficient agency receives no federal or state funding and employs more than half a million Americans. The USPS is deeply in debt and has proposed terminating Saturday delivery service to help make ends meet. Congress has declined this offer. The USPS has also considered closing hundreds of mail processing centers, terminating thousands of employees and reducing the benefits of those remaining. In 2019, the USPS had $71 billion in revenue. But since 2009, the USPS has lost $69 billion, and is currently $160 billion in debt.

In 2006, we passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, requiring the Postal Service to prefund future retiree healthcare benefits for the next 75 years within a ten-year period. No other government or business entity is required to prefund health insurance costs for employees that have yet to be born. Postal service supporters claim this legislation was only a ploy to drive this agency into bankruptcy so it could be privatized. They say the postal service is indispensable to our way of life since it is required to make near-daily deliveries to every American address. Most private delivery companies use the Postal Service to deliver their packages to remote areas that are not cost-effective for them to serve - the so-called “last mile.” Supporters warn that a privatized mail service would also find these deliveries costly - and these costs would be passed on to consumers. They also say that if the 2006 prefunding requirement was removed, our Postal Service not only would be out of debt, but would be turning a profit.

Pending Legislation: H.R.695 - USPS Fairness Act
Sponsor: Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (OR)
Status: House Committee on Oversight and Reform
Chair: Rep. Carolyn Maloney (NY)