{"id":26281,"date":"2019-05-01T09:34:57","date_gmt":"2019-05-01T14:34:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=26281"},"modified":"2019-05-01T09:34:57","modified_gmt":"2019-05-01T14:34:57","slug":"hearing-on-financial-condition-of-the-postal-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2019\/05\/01\/hearing-on-financial-condition-of-the-postal-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Hearing on Financial Condition of the Postal Service"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-1oX8Cfi0AQ\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span class=\"mce_SELRES_start\" style=\"width: 0px; line-height: 0; overflow: hidden; display: inline-block;\" data-mce-type=\"bookmark\">?<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.7em; color: #1e1e1e; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;\">4\/30\/19 &#8211; The Postal Service\u2019s financial condition has been deteriorating over the past decade for three primary reasons: (1) a decline in first-class mail; (2) expenses increasing at a faster rate than revenues; and (3) requirements put in place by Congress in 2006 to make billions of dollars of payments each year to pre-fund retiree health benefits. To conserve cash, the Postal Service has defaulted on more than $40 billion in payments owed to pre-fund retiree health care expenses. However, the Postal Service\u2019s liquidity continues to dwindle and it faces challenges with having enough cash on hand to conduct its essential mission of providing universal mail service. For all of these reasons, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has placed the Postal Service\u2019s financial condition on its \u201chigh-risk list\u201d since 2009.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"witness_dark\" style=\"box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.1; color: #114577 !important; margin-top: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; font-size: 24px; padding: 10px 0px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;\"><a style=\"box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: #0062a0; text-decoration: none; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold;\" href=\"https:\/\/oversight.house.gov\/sites\/democrats.oversight.house.gov\/files\/April%202019%20Postal%20Hearing%20Opening%20Statement%20FINAL.pdf\">CHAIRMAN CUMMINGS OPENING STATEMENT<\/a><\/h3>\n<div class=\"panel-pane pane-entity-field pane-node-field-congress-meeting-witnesses\" style=\"box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;\">\n<div class=\"pane-content\">\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-congress-meeting-witnesses field-type-text-long field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<h3 class=\"witness_dark\">WITNESSES<\/h3>\n<p><strong>The Honorable Megan J. Brennan\u00a0<\/strong><br \/>\nPostmaster General, United States Postal Service<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/oversight.house.gov\/sites\/democrats.oversight.house.gov\/files\/Postmaster%20General%20Megan%20Brennan%20Testimony_043019.pdf\">Written Testimony<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Ms. Margaret M. Cigno\u00a0<\/strong><br \/>\nDirector, Office of Accountability and Compliance, Postal Regulatory Commission<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/oversight.house.gov\/sites\/democrats.oversight.house.gov\/files\/Cigno%20House%20testimony%20Final%20Testimony.pdf\">Written Testimony<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Mr. Chris Edwards\u00a0<\/strong><br \/>\nDirector of Tax Policy Studies, Cato Institute<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/oversight.house.gov\/sites\/democrats.oversight.house.gov\/files\/Edwards%20-Cato%20Testimony.pdf\">Written Testimony<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Mr. Joel Quadracci\u00a0<\/strong><br \/>\nChairman, President, and CEO, Quad\/Graphics<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/oversight.house.gov\/sites\/democrats.oversight.house.gov\/files\/Joel%20Quadracci%20Testimony%20-%20House%20Oversight%20and%20Reform%20Committee%20-%20USPS.pdf\">Written Testimony<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Mr. Fredric V. Rolando\u00a0<\/strong><br \/>\nPresident, National Association of Letter Carriers<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/oversight.house.gov\/sites\/democrats.oversight.house.gov\/files\/Testimony.043019.final%20Rolando%20NALC.pdf\">Written Testimony<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"panel-pane pane-entity-field pane-node-field-congress-meeting-documents\" style=\"box-sizing: border-box; color: #262626; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;\">\n<div class=\"pane-content\">\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-congress-meeting-documents field-type-text-long field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<h3 class=\"witness_dark\">DOCUMENTS<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a title=\"Meeting notice\" href=\"http:\/\/docs.house.gov\/meetings\/GO\/GO00\/20190430\/109353\/HHRG-116-GO00-20190430-SD001.pdf\">Meeting notice<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Memo\" href=\"http:\/\/docs.house.gov\/meetings\/GO\/GO00\/20190430\/109353\/HHRG-116-GO00-20190430-SD002.pdf\">Memo<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Below From <a href=\"https:\/\/federalnewsnetwork.com\/hearings-oversight\/2019\/04\/postal-service-will-run-out-of-cash-by-2024-without-congressional-reform\/\">Federal News Network<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Fira Sans', 'Droid Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.35; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;\">The House Oversight and Reform Committee will try\u00a0\u2014 again\u00a0\u2014 this year to advance bipartisan reform for the U.S. Postal Service in 2019.<\/p>\n<p style=\"box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Fira Sans', 'Droid Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.35; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;\">Why?<\/p>\n<p style=\"box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Fira Sans', 'Droid Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.35; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;\">Because it has to, or else the Postal Service will run out of cash by 2024, Postmaster General Megan Brennan told Congress Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p style=\"box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Fira Sans', 'Droid Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.35; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;\">\u201cAbsent legislation and regulatory reform, in all probability, we\u2019ll be out of cash in 2024,\u201d she told the House Oversight and Reform Committee at a hearing on the USPS\u2019 financial status. \u201cThat will threaten our ability to meet our obligation to the American public and to our business partners.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Fira Sans', 'Droid Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.35; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;\">The U.S. Postal Service has been careening toward financial ruin for the past several years.<\/p>\n<p style=\"box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Fira Sans', 'Droid Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.35; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;\">The Postal Service has suffered $69 billion in net losses over the last decade.\u00a0Total mail volume has dropped 31 percent and first class mail has fallen 41 percent since 2007.<\/p>\n<p style=\"box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Fira Sans', 'Droid Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.35; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;\">Unlike nearly every other government agency, USPS is required to pre-fund health benefits for postal retirees.\u00a0This mandate accounts for 80 percent of those losses, Brennan said. The Postal Service has defaulted on $48 billion in these mandatory payments since 2012 to conserve cash.<\/p>\n<p style=\"box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Fira Sans', 'Droid Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.35; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;\">If USPS made all of these legally mandated payments in 2019, it will be out of cash in 2020, Brennan said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Fira Sans', 'Droid Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.35; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;\">In fiscal 2018, the USPS had about $200 million of cash on hand for about two months on any given day. Ideally, Brennan said her agency should have $20 billion in cash on hand for about 100 days.<\/p>\n<p style=\"box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Fira Sans', 'Droid Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.35; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;\">Brennan said she is working with the Postal Board of Governors to write a business plan that would restore financial stability to the USPS over the next 10 years. The goal, she said, is to find both cost-saving and revenue-producing methods to address a $125 billion funding shortfall, which the agency will experience over the next decade.<\/p>\n<p style=\"box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Fira Sans', 'Droid Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.35; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;\">But for Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), who said he has met with USPS more times over the course of his congressional career than any other agency, the Postal Service should be moving with much more urgency on a financial stability plan.<\/p>\n<p style=\"box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Fira Sans', 'Droid Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.35; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;\">\u201cHow long are we going to have to wait for a plan to come from the board, Ms. Brennan? We\u2019ve been dealing with this; it\u2019s been in crisis mode for two or three years,\u201d Meadows said. \u201cWhen are we going to have a plan?\u201d More at <a href=\"https:\/\/federalnewsnetwork.com\/hearings-oversight\/2019\/04\/postal-service-will-run-out-of-cash-by-2024-without-congressional-reform\/\">Federal News Network<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-26284\" src=\"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/USPS-Broken.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/USPS-Broken.jpg 450w, https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/USPS-Broken-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>? 4\/30\/19 &#8211; The Postal Service\u2019s financial condition has been deteriorating over the past decade for three primary reasons: (1) a decline in first-class mail; (2) expenses increasing at a faster rate than revenues; and (3) requirements put in place by Congress in 2006 to make billions of dollars of payments each year to pre-fund [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26284,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26281"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26285,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26281\/revisions\/26285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}