As one of the biggest advocates for rural mail delivery, Sen. Al Franken is again pushing for a fix to the United States Postal Service’s financial problems.
On Feb. 14, in an effort to address the problems faced by the cash-strapped agency and ensure that Minnesotans continue to receive six-day postal delivery, Franken and seven of his Senate colleagues introduced legislation to modernize the postal service and repeal the law passed by Congress that he says is largely responsible for the Postal Service’s financial problems.
“People all over Minnesota depend on the postal service to get their paychecks and pay their bills, so it’s important that we put this national institution on sound financial footing before it’s too late,” Franken said in a statement. “It’s clear that we need to take action to modernize the postal service, but the elimination of Saturday delivery will only make things worse by forcing customers to take their business elsewhere. This legislation would address 80 percent of the Postal Service’s financial problems, preserve Saturday delivery, and modernize the postal service so it can compete in the 21st century economy.”
Postal Service Spokesman Pete Nowacki declined comment to The Jouranl regarding the proposed bill, but said, “We don’t really offer comment on pending legislation and we are still in the process of evaluating what is in this current bill.”
According to Franken’s website, the proposed legislation would let the Postal Service look for new ways to generate revenue by allowing post offices to notarize documents, issue hunting and fishing licenses and allow shipments of wine and beer — all services currently prohibited at post offices.
“There’s no questions that the Postal Service needs to get on solid financial ground and this legislation would allow them to do that while protecting jobs and protecting reliable Postal Service that so many Minnesotans depend on,” Franken continued in the statement.
In Feb. 13 testimony by U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe to the Senate, he mentioned last year’s bipartisan postal reform bill that passed in the Senate, but was never voted on by the U.S. House of Representatives.
“While that effort was appreciated, it ultimately did not lead to enacted legislation,” Donahoe said in his testimony. “We strenuously urge the 113th Congress to act swiftly, completing the work that was begun in the previous Congress. Time is of the essence, and each day that passes without enacted postal reform further impacts the Postal Service’s already dire financial condition. The Postal Service is losing $25 million per day.”
Donahoe said no action will solve the Postal Service’s precarious financial situation, and if legislation is not enacted – and soon – to provide the necessary reforms and flexibilities to achieve savings and generate new revenues, the cycle of discussing the same issues will repeat itself.
In addition to the bill that followed the day after Donahoe’s statement, Franken also signed a letter to the postmaster general urging the delay and implementation of any service changes to give Congress time to pass a comprehensive postal reform bill.
“We write to express our concerns regarding the recent announcement that the Postal Service intends to end Saturday mail delivery service later this year,” the letter said. “We understand the Postal Service faces serious financial challenges, and we remain committed to working with you to find a solution to the Postal Service’s long-term financial viability as we did last year to pass bipartisan postal reform legislation through the Senate.”
The letter continued that lawmakers are unclear how ending Saturday mail will reduce costs and say the shift to five-day service might not benefit U.S. Postal Service in the long term.
“Importantly, moving to five-day service will result in the loss of approximately 70,000 jobs. Of these, the National Rural Letter Carriers Association projects that a minimum of 20,000 would affect rural communities. With the national unemployment rate at 7.8 percent, moving to five-day delivery will hurt middle class families,” the letter said.
In February, Nowacki told The Journal, no layoffs were anticipated with the elimination of Saturday delivery.
“We believe we can cover any reductions through attrition, reassignment and greater flexibility in the workforce,” he said.
