Political Quotes

“I am offering this amendment mostly as a placeholder in order to allow the conference to reinsert the language that was stripped as a result of a point of order. The fact is that every 5 years the Universal Postal Union meets to negotiate international mail processes. The United States Postal Service is right now in control of all of these negotiations. We all know what they want. They would want what any business wants, and that is special arrangements that would help them assume a monopoly in the services they wish to offer. The problem is, these services are not a monopoly. They offer the same services that private carriers offer. Right now, because of these special arrangements that have been negotiated, Japan has 60 percent of the current package market. The fact is that this coming February there will be a new negotiation in which the Universal Postal Union will negotiate the next 5 years' mail processes. For that reason, I hope to reinsert the language that was stripped on a point of order. Some people will try to claim that the Post Office should continue to have this role and use these services as a way to offset the cost of universal mail. Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is that universal mail is a monopoly, and it is covered by all of first, second and third class rates. There is not 1 cent that is gotten in the competitive market that the Postal Service contributes to offset Americans' cost of stamps.”