WASHINGTON – Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management which oversees the U.S. Postal Service, issued the following statement regarding Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe’s plan to eliminate 7,500 administrative, supervisory and postmaster positions:

“Postmaster General Donahoe has a daunting task before him – he must find significant, effective means to streamline the Postal Service and he needs to do it quickly. Current projections show that the Postal Service may be left without the resources necessary to operate by the next holiday season. Major changes must be made so that taxpayers aren’t left to bailout this struggling, but salvageable, institution. I have said it before and I’ll say it again, we need to think outside the box when it comes to identifying solutions to prevent the Postal Service from going broke and every option needs to be on the table. This plan to make the Postal Service more efficient by reducing unnecessary positions certainly fits that criteria and is something that I think we should take a serious look at. This announcement also shows that all stakeholders – including top managers – will need to feel the impact of the tough decisions that will need to be made in the coming months. I look forward to working with Postmaster General Donahoe on this and other proposals to reform the U.S. Postal Service and put it on more solid financial footing.”

Sen. Carper has been a leader in Congress on the effort to reform and modernize the U.S. Postal Service. As Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, he has held several hearings over the last year exploring the financial challenges facing the Postal Service as well as the ways to best address them.

On Sept. 23, 2010, Sen. Carper introduced comprehensive postal reform legislation, the Postal Operations Sustainment and Transformation (POST) Act of 2010. The POST Act sought to address the financial problems plaguing the Postal Service by proposing a comprehensive set of reforms including: easing postal employee pension and retiree health costs; addressing postal employee wages and benefits; allowing partnerships with state and local governments and giving the Postal Service leeway to close post offices, market certain non-postal items and eliminate Saturday delivery.