Senator Carper Applauds House Committee’s Release of Draft Legislation to Reform U.S. Postal Service

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released the following statement today applauding the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for releasing a bipartisan discussion draft to make much-needed reforms to the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). In September 2015, Senator Carper introduced the bipartisan Improving Postal Operations, Service, and Transparency Act of 2015 (S.2051) or “iPOST.”

“I want to applaud Chairman Chaffetz, Ranking Member Cummings and Congressmen Meadows, Connolly and Lynch for their efforts to bring forward bipartisan draft legislation that addresses the United States Postal Service’s dire financial situation. The House proposal released today reiterates what those of us in the Senate who are serious about postal reform have long believed: the time to act is now. I commend my House colleagues for taking this important step forward. We must now work quickly to find consensus between the House and Senate proposals.  If we delay any longer and fail to get postal reform enacted this year, the Postal Service’s already dire situation will only get worse.

“The Postal Service operates at the center of a massive $1.4 trillion printing, delivery and logistics industry that employs nearly 8 million Americans. However, for the past nine fiscal years, this critical agency has reported multi-billion dollar losses. It’s our duty in Congress to help right this 200-year-old American institution and pave a fiscally sustainable path that allows the Postal Service to return to solvency and thrive in the 21^st century. I look forward to bringing together members of the House from both sides of the aisle to work alongside Senators Moran, McCaskill, Blunt, Collins, Warner and others here in the Senate to finally enact balanced, bipartisan reform that will help us to put the ‘service’ back in Postal Service.”