Russell Senate Office Building SR-385
Jul 24, 2018
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM (GMT-5)
Host:
A Grand Alliance to Save Our Public Postal Service
The future of the public Postal Service is at the center of a swirling national debate. The White House is questioning its deals with Amazon. A June 2018 White House OMB report, Delivering Government Solutions in the 21st Century, draws the conclusion that privatization of the Postal Service is the only way forward. A 2006 congressionally-manufactured USPS “crisis” imposed an unfair crushing financial mandate on the Postal Service that no other government agency or private company is forced to bear.
Yet the U.S. Postal Service, with zero tax dollars, delivers nearly 500 million pieces of mail every day to 157 million addresses no matter who customers are or where they live. It is the core of the $1.4 trillion U.S. mailing industry that employs 7.5 million people.
The Postal Service has come a long way since July 26, 1775, when the Second Continental Congress established the Post Office and named Benjamin Franklin the first Postmaster General. And in the age of e-commerce, it is more relevant than ever.
In recognition of Postal Heritage Day, experts took part in a discussion of postal service finances, why privatization is the wrong approach, and the recently-introduced bi-partisan H. Res. 993 which expresses “the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should take all appropriate measures to ensure that the United States Postal Service remains an independent establishment of the Federal Government and is not subject to privatization.”
Panelist included:
* Brian Renfroe, Executive Vice President, National Association of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO
* Alan Barber, Director of Domestic Policy, Center for Economic and Policy Research
* Art Sackler, Manager, Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service
* Ashley Poling, Senior Policy Counsel, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND)
* House Resolution 993 leads
