WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) Chairman of the Senate subcommittee that oversees the U.S. Postal Service, released the following statement on the U.S. Postal Service’s announcement regarding an estimated $3 billion reduction to operating costs:

“Today’s announcement is another grim reminder that we must act quickly if we want to save the Postal Service and the eight million jobs that rely on it. Although we’ve made some progress in moving postal reform bills forward in the House and Senate, we still have a lot of work that needs to be done in order to find a comprehensive solution to the Postal Service’s serious financial problems. In the absence of assistance from Congress and the Administration, the Postal Service has been forced to take matters into their own hands and try to modernize their business model with the limited tools and resources available to them. This situation is less than ideal. The few measures that the Postal Service can adopt on its own – such as closing distribution centers and slowing down first-class mail delivery times – to extend its survival and avoid insolvency will also potentially further erode its declining business. Make no mistake, this situation is dire, but it is not hopeless. My colleagues Sens. Lieberman (ID-CT), Collins (R-ME), and Brown (R-MA) and I have joined together to introduce the only comprehensive postal reform bill that is bipartisan – the 21st Century Postal Service Act (S.1789). We need to a comprehensive reform bill as soon as possible. It is my hope that Congress and the Administration can come together on this plan in order to save the Postal Service before it’s too late.”