On the recordMarch 8, 2022
the U.S. Postal Service is in dire trouble. The Government Accountability Office has listed its financial viability as high risk, and it has been in that status since 2009. From 2007 until 2020, the Postal Service had losses of $86 billion and over $188 billion in unfunded liabilities and debt. From October to December of last year alone--just a few months--it lost $1.3 billion. I think it is a mistake to rush postal reform now, when Congress should instead debate and consider the country's response to and role in the Ukraine-Russia situation. We could be responding to skyrocketing energy prices. Nevertheless, I do very much support dealing with the post office and reforming the post office. We have to do this. Unfortunately, this bill falls far short in much more than just its timing. It does nearly nothing to make the Postal Service solvent. I have offered 12 amendments. Sadly, my efforts, along with those of my Republican colleagues, have been blocked. But I can't just step aside without trying to make the bill better. Today, I would like to briefly speak about just 2 of the 12 amendments I have filed, just two of them in particular, and ask that they be called up and voted on. The first strikes a provision in the bill that would require the Postal Service to ``maintain an integrated network for the delivery'' of postal products and would require the disclosure of the rates that the USPS charges private companies for the last mile delivery of packages.…





