Letter to Postmaster General Donahoe

Letter

Noting the unlikelihood that Congress will reach an agreement on postal system reforms anytime soon and that the postal service is on track to lose $21 billion annually by 2016 without changes to its business model, U.S. Senators Bob Corker, John McCain, and Tom Coburn today wrote to Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe urging him to "move forward with cost-saving changes."

"As Senators committed to fiscal responsibility and preventing future taxpayer-funded bailouts, we support your efforts to put the USPS on a sustainable financial path for the future," Corker, McCain and Coburn wrote to Donahoe.

Full text of the letter follows and is attached below.

Dear Postmaster General Donahoe:

"Despite the Senate's passage last week of S. 1789, the 21st Century Postal Service Act of 2012, we believe it is very unlikely that both the House and Senate will come to agreement on legislation that reforms the postal system anytime soon and strongly encourage you to move forward with the cost-saving changes you have previously outlined.

"The 21st Century Postal Service Act would create many new mandates that would prevent the US Postal Service from reducing its costs and creating a sustainable business model. Specifically, the legislation would halt many processing facility and post office closures, prevent the USPS from revising its delivery service standards, not allow flexibility in appropriately pricing services and further delay the transition to 5-day delivery. Each of these changes could save the US Postal Service billions of dollars per year. According to the Government Accountability Office, the USPS has projected an annual savings of $4 billion by consolidating its processing and transportation network.

"According to your projections, the USPS is on track to lose $21 billion annually by 2016 if it does not change its business model. We understand that even with making tough but essential cost-saving changes today, it will still be a challenge to meet the long range viability of the Postal Service in the future and avoid bankruptcy. As you said on April 25, 'If [S. 1789] were to become law, the Postal Service would be back before the Congress within a few years requesting additional legislative reform.'

"As Senators committed to fiscal responsibility and preventing future taxpayer-funded bailouts, we support your efforts to put the USPS on a sustainable financial path for the future."

Sincerely,

Bob Corker, United States Senator
John McCain, United States Senator
Tom Coburn, United States Senator

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