With Postal Service on 'Verge of Collapse' 630,000 Jobs at Risk,Trump Slammed for Refusing to Act

[BeckyDem]

"We've pleaded with the White House to help. Donald Trump personally directed his staff not to do so."


by

Jake Johnson, staff writer


The U.S. Postal Service warned Congress this week that it will completely "run out of cash" in the next several months without immediate action from the White House and Congress, but—with as many as 630,000 jobs at risk—President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers have refused to commit to rescuing the prized government institution as it falters amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Postmaster General Megan Brennan told the House Oversight and Reform Committee in a briefing on Thursday that the USPS will need access to a total of $75 billion in cash, grants, and loans in order to avert financial ruin by the fall.

"We are at a critical juncture in the life of the Postal Service. At a time when America needs the Postal Service more than ever, the reason we are so needed is having a devastating effect on our business," said Brennan, referring to the coronavirus outbreak, which has led to a sharp decline in mail volume.

As Government Executive reported, "House Democrats pushed for a $25 billion cash infusion for the Postal Service as part of the last stimulus package, but Senate negotiators ultimately opted to include only a $10 billion line of credit. Postal management has said that amount would be insufficient for preventing fiscal calamity this year."

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/11/postal-service-verge-collapse-and-630000-jobs-risk-trump-slammed-refusing-act?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=twitter

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. The GOP wants to privatize it.

How much will stamps cost if that happens?

[BeckyDem]

2. Good question. They have been trying to destroy them for a long time.

Congress -- not email -- destroyed the Postal Service
The oft-maligned U.S. mail is actually quite well-run. Politicians steered it into the ditch

https://www.salon.com/2013/02/06/congress_not_email_destroyed_the_postal_service/

[enough]

10. First they want to cripple the PO before the election, kill those absentee ballots. NT

[Girard442]

3. Use of the Postal Service is woven into our lives.

If it dies there will be disruptions that no one has even thought of.

Makes you think that the notion is not so ridiculous that a dying Trump would launch the nukes. After all, what would he have to lose? It's not like anyone else matters.

[BeckyDem]

6. I feel the same way. Slash and burn, he and his cronies are determined to steal as many prospects

as possible. What frightens me is no one on that side will stop him. Mitch McConnell is not a good man in any sense of the word.

[cilla4progress]

4. This is all to stop

VOTE-BY-MAIIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BeckyDem]

7. +1. We have to.

[live love laugh]

5. And if he thinks the economy will survive this loss

he needs to think again.

[kimbutgar]

8. Just think what it will do to periodicals, magazines and an orange maggot won't be able to send

Out mailers to his cult reminding them to vote for him. Not everyone is on the internet. There are a lot of unintended consequences. It will destroy mail order catalog businesses and eBay will be destroyed. When you think of how much one depends on their mail it will be catastrophic. I wrote my bills yesterday and mailed them. I don’t like when my account gets debited I want to control my finances by writing and mailing those checks. There are a lot of people like me.

[BeckyDem]

9. Exactly, the consequences are far reaching.

[appalachiablue]

11. Privatization for profit of public resources, the ravaging needs to end.

Efforts to break the USPS and the strong employees union have been in the works for years; during Bush II the Postal Service was made to pre- fund worker retirements 75 years out-- decades before personnel were even born. All done intentionally to hamstring operations, then claim the service 'was bankrupt and needed to be ended.' A huge gift to private sector.

The US Postal Service was established by the second Continental Congress in 1775 with Benj. Franklin as its first Postmaster General.

http://www.benjamin-franklin-history.org/postmaster-general/