Contact: Jeannine Guttman
(202) 224-4751
November 16, 2005

US Postal Service Urges Senators Collins, Carper To Oppose Any Provision That Would Weaken Their Postal Reform Legislation

USPS Expresses Opposition to Rate-Setting Provision Backed by Senator Bond

WASHINGTON, DC -The U.S. Postal Service has sent a letter to Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Thomas Carper (D-DE), coauthors of legislation that represents the most sweeping reforms of the Postal Service in 30 years, urging them to oppose any amendments to their bill that would benefit some mailers at the expense of the entire system. Specifically, the Postal Service opposes a provision backed by Senator Kit Bond (R-MO) that could threaten the future economic viability of the U.S.P.S., which is the lynchpin of a $9 billion mailing industry. The letter was sent on the same day that the Postal Service approved a rate increase that will cost all mailers billions over the next several years.

In a letter to Senators Collins and Carper, Tom Day, a Postal Service official, wrote about the organization’s opposition to a provision backed by Senator Bond (R-MO) that would retain the current system related to the Postal Service’s mailing rates. Day wrote that the proposal “subverts the entire reform bill”

“The proposed language would not protect mailers, but instead inevitably lead to higher rates for all mailers.” He further wrote, “the Postal Service urges you to oppose the amendment, or any amendment that attempts to achieve this goal.

Senators Collins and Carper pointed out that had the U.S. Senate approved their postal reform bill, the new rate increase would not have been necessary.

Senator Collins said, “The Postal Service supports 9 million jobs nationwide in industries as diverse as paper manufacturing, printing, financial services, and catalog companies. A strong Postal Service is critical to our economy. But under its current business model, the Postal Service’s financial future is not viable as the Postal Service itself has recognized. Our bill modernizes the rate-setting process to provide more predictability for its users and helps ensure a stronger financial future for the organization, which currently faces billions of dollars in unfunded liabilities.” She added, “Any attempts to maintain the status quo will ensure that postal customers of all sizes will be forced to pay billion more over the next few years.”

Senator Carper said, “Every time postal rates increase, mail volume declines and quality jobs are lost in every state and Congressional district in the nation. We can’t allow the years of important bipartisan work toward modernizing the Postal Service and preserving the mailing industry be derailed by the wishes of a very narrow special interest. S. 662 should be the law of the land by now. We need to get it through the Senate, through Conference, and to the President’s desk to head off the damage that will be caused by future rate increases”

Letter attached.