Keep US Posted Urges Congress to Incorporate Key Reforms Into Relief

Keep US Posted, a nonprofit advocacy group of consumers, nonprofits, newspapers, greeting card publishers, magazines, catalogs and small businesses, urged Reps. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) and Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.), chair and ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations, to ensure that key reforms are included in any financial relief to keep the U.S. Postal Service from running out of cash in early 2027 as anticipated. In a letter sent to Reps. Sessions and Mfume, Keep US Posted corrected and contextualized statements made by Postmaster General David Steiner in testimony before lawmakers last month — and made the case that any legislation should also enforce accountability, accessibility and affordability requirements to keep USPS from squandering yet another effort by Congress to financially stabilize the agency.

“The Postal Service does not have a revenue problem; it has a cost control problem,” former Congressman Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.), executive director of Keep US Posted, wrote in today’s letter. “Stamp prices have climbed 44 percent over the past 15 years, and rates for other mail products have risen even more. Yet despite these repeated increases, USPS has still lost more than $25 billion since Postmaster General DeJoy launched the 2021 Delivering for America plan — even after Congress provided $10 billion under the 2021 CARES Act and eliminated $120 billion in liabilities under the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022. Worse, performance has also deteriorated: over the past four years, USPS total factor and labor productivity fell to the lowest levels in the modern agency’s history. The Delivering for America plan is harming the mailing industry, and Congress should not provide additional aid without requiring meaningful, enforceable reforms — or USPS will be back on the path to insolvency.”

In testimony March 17 before the Subcommittee on Government Operations, Postmaster General Steiner asked Congress to raise the Postal Service’s borrowing authority and advocated for raising the stamp price to nearly $1. Today’s letter from Keep US Posted provided corrections and clarification to some of Steiner’s statements — including his claims that USPS in recent years has reduced the number of employees and transportation costs, as well as his assertion that limiting rate hikes cost USPS $1 billion, when in reality, the Postal Regulatory Commission has noted that twice-a-year increases at levels far above inflation have reduced mail volume and revenue.

The letter specifically urges Reps. Sessions and Mfume to ensure that any financial relief provided to USPS also includes the following key principles and reforms contained in H.R.3004:

ACCESSIBILITY: Preserve the Universal Service Obligation requiring six-day mail and package delivery to every address.
AFFORDABILITY: Limit rate hikes to once per year and keep them affordable for small businesses and consumers. A CPI-based price cap for Market Dominant products would require USPS to improve efficiency and live within its means. Any service reductions must be required to provide guaranteed savings.

ACCOUNTABILITY: Strengthen the PRC’s oversight with binding authority over service changes and a dedicated customer advocate to ensure USPS improves efficiency and cost discipline to live within its means.

“Keep US Posted stands ready to work with you and mail stakeholders to advance reforms consistent with the principles above so future efforts do not repeat the Delivering for America plan’s costly outcome,” the letter said in closing. “The mailing industry — and the nation — cannot afford it.”

Source: Keep US Posted

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