Sen. Carper Reacts to President Obama’s Proposal to Save the Postal Service

WASHINGTON – Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chairman of the Subcommittee that oversees the U.S. Postal Service, released the following statement reacting to President Obama’s proposal to address the U.S. Postal Service’s ongoing financial crisis:

“I have been saying for some time now that Congress and the Administration need to come together on a plan that can save the Postal Service and protect the more than seven million jobs that rely on it. The Administration has put forward a plan that appears to include many of the recommendations that I suggested to President Obama earlier this month and that were included in legislation I introduced this past spring. The President’s proposal would help the Postal Service update its business model to reflect Americans’ changing communications habits and address some of the financial burdens associated with the Postal Service’s future retiree healthcare costs and payments to the federal pension systems. It would also allow the Postal Service to pursue innovative opportunities to attract new business by taking better advantage of its nationwide retail, delivery and logistics network. Not only does this proposal help the Postal Service fix its finances but it also reportedly trims our federal deficit by over $10 billion over the next 10 years. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the coming days to study this proposal further. That said, what the President has put forward today appears to be a meaningful response to a very real and dire crisis that has the potential, perhaps in combination with other proposals that have been made in recent months, to address the challenges facing the Postal Service in the near term and in the years to come.”

On Sept. 9, 2011, Sen. Carper wrote to President Obama suggesting several reforms for the Postal Service that could be included in the President’s proposal to the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction. To read the letter, please click here.

###