A Manufactured Crisis

H.R. 6407 (109th): Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act

This house bill was passed by a lame duck session of the 109th Congress in 2006 to reform the postal laws of the United States Under the PAEA, the US Postal Service was required to "prefund its future health care benefit payments to retirees for the next 75 years in an astonishing ten year time span." Essentially, this meant that the USPS had to set aside billions of dollars to pay for the health benefits of employees it hasn't even hired yet, or quite possibly haven't even been born yet. This is something that no other government or private corporation is required to do.

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader noted that if the PAEA had never been enacted, the USPS would actually be facing a $1.5 billion surplus today:

"By June 2011, the USPS saw a total net deficit of $19.5 billion, $12.7 billion of which was borrowed money from Treasury (leaving just $2.3 billion left until the USPS hits its statutory borrowing limit of $15 billion). This $19.5 billion deficit almost exactly matches the $20.95 billion the USPS made in prepayments to the fund for future retiree health care benefits by June 2011. If the prepayments required under PAEA were never enacted into law, the USPS would not have a net deficiency of nearly $20 billion, but instead be in the black by at least $1.5 billion."

The media and politicians point to the rise of email and internet services and the inefficiency of the USPS as the major culprits for the fiscal crisis facing the agency. While it is true that these factors do have some financial impact, the majority of the losses in recent years can be traced back to this single onerous restriction forced onto the USPS by a Republican led Congress in 2006.

In order to remedy this problem, Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA), along with 193 co-sponsors, has introduced bipartisan legislation that would allow the USPS to spend more of its OWN MONEY to pay down its deficits, including $6.9 billion in pension and other over payments that may total anywhere from $25 to $50 billion. These are Postal Service funds NOT taxpayer dollars.

Meanwhile, Rep. Darell Issa (R-CA), the wealthiest man in Congress, has been pushing for legislation that would lead to widespread layoffs and bust the postal workers' unions. Can our fragile economy withstand the layoffs of tens if not hundreds of thousands of living wage earners? Yet this is precisely what Rep. Issa proposes, so that steps may be taken to dismantle the USPS and privatize it, cutting service standards to the millions of Americans who rely on the Postal Service for medications, checks, communication, and many other services. 

This insanity is not what is best for the USPS, it is not what is best for the working class, and it most certainly is not in the best interests of the American people. 

Educate yourselves and your family and friends as to the truth about the manufactured crisis faced by the Postal Service and educate yourselves about which position the candidates take on the matter. Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan are all for the plans that Issa proposes, plans to put an end to the postal service that has existed in this country for centuries and that was MANDATED in the Constitution.

Don't let it happen. Vote for Obama in November.