Political Quotes

“Today, the Senate begins debate on reform legislation to save an American institution--the U.S. Postal Service. Our Founding Fathers recognized the importance of having a postal service. Article I, section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress the power to establish post offices. The Postal Service is also required by law to provide the entire population of the United States with adequate and efficient postal services at a fair and reasonable rate. This is called the universal mandate, and it ensures that the Postal Service cannot leave behind rural States and small towns. The Postal Service, which has delivered news to generation after generation of Americans, is at great risk of not being able to make its payroll by this fall, according to the Postmaster General himself. My point is that this crisis is very real. The Postal Service is in debt to the U.S. Treasury by $13 billion. By the end of the year, it is likely to reach its statutory debt limit of $15 billion. Driving this crisis are many factors, not the least of which is that the volume of its first-class mail has fallen by 26 percent since 2006 and continues to decline as this chart shows. Reflecting that sharp drop in volume, revenue has plummeted from $72.8 billion in 2006 to $65.7 billion in 2011. The Postal Service is part of our culture and economic fabric.…”