The Financial Condition of the Postal Service
CHAIRMAN CUMMINGS' OPENING STATEMENT
PURPOSE
The Committee will hold a hearing to review the current financial condition of the Postal Service, as well as the urgent need for reform legislation.
BACKGROUND
The Postal Service’s 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’s 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’s financial condition on its “high-risk list” since 2009.
WITNESSES
The Honorable Megan J. Brennan
Postmaster General
United States Postal Service
Ms. Margaret M. Cigno
Director
Office of Accountability and Compliance, Postal Regulatory Commission
Mr. Joel Quadracci
Chairman, President, and CEO
Quad/Graphics
Mr. Fredric V. Rolando
President
National Association of Letter Carriers
Mr. Chris Edwards
Director of Tax Policy Studies
Cato Institute
DOCUMENTS
- Meeting notice
- Memo
- Attendance List
- Questions for the Record - Response by Postmaster General Brennan
- Rep. Connolly Statement
- Submission for the record - NAFCU Letter
- Submission for the record - ACI Letter
- ACMA statement-Cummings UC for the Record
- NARFE Letter-Cummings UC for the Record
- Public Citizen statement-Cummings UC for the Record
- Package Coalition statement-Cummings UC for the Record
- Submission for the record - TPA letter
- Greeting Card Association Statement - Connolly UC for the Record
- American Postal Workers Union Statement - Cummings UC for the Record