Please, Call Congress

[cassiesmom]

LH, quick question: Is the government not allowed to provide bail-out funds to its own operations? If Congress can act to bail out big corporations, why are they not able to do the same for USPS. Is it because USPS is a government entity?

The post office in LaGrange has a machine that I love. You can use it to purchase stamps even after the post office has closed, and if you need just a few-- it custom prints a tiny little stamp-like sticker for you with the appropriate postage on it. I needed two stamps at 5 o'clock on Sunday afternoon to send bills out the next morning - Problem solved.

What I miss is that they've eliminated the early A.M. pickup. Used to be that I could drop stuff in the box and it would go out around 7 the next morning. Now the first collection isn't till noon so I have to allow an extra day.

[Lady's Human]

The USPS is off-budget, so it receives no tax money other than what the government pays for postage. In 2006 things looked rosy for the Postal service, and Congress decided, in a lame duck session, that rather than allow the USPS to use the money to fund continuing operations, that the USPS should use the money to pre-fund retirement benefits for employees who haven't even been born yet.

If you have a mortgage, and the bank decides to change a 30 year note to a 10 year note by fiat, it might cause you a few financial difficulties, and that's exactly what happened.

Then came the recession, which cut down on the amount of mail being sent.

Minus the PAEA legislation, the Postal service has actually turned a $1 billion profit over the last 5 years.

The money the USPS is losing is entirely due to badly flawed legislation, and it's time to fix it.

[Lady's Human]

The Postal Service, after having their arms twisted by 14 Senators, has agreed to a five month moratorium on closing post offices and moving mail processing plants.

They're still going to do all the groundwork for the moves, but will make no physical moves until after 15 May 2012.

Hopefully, this will give Congress time to pass some sane legislation.

With Rep. Hinchey's bill in the house and Sen. Sander's bill in the Senate being close mirrors of each other, it would be nice to see both houses move on the legislation, pass it with little to no partisan wrangling in reconciliation as the bills are near mirrors of each other, and get it to the President's desk for signature.

I'd like to thank Rep. Hinchey and Rep. Hanna for their support, as well as the 14 Senators who forced the moratorium. We've had a lot of support on the state side as well, with NY State Senators Libous and O'Mara writing letters opposing the consolidations as well.

The support we've been given in NY State is bipartisan. I can only hope that the rest of the Congress can see what a mess this will create if nothing is done legislatively.

[Freckles]

Got an email from Oregon Rep Earl Blumenauer this morning with positive comments.
States he is cosponsor of the USPS Pension Obligation Recalculation and Restoration Act of 2011. That's a good thing?

[Lady's Human]

It's one of several bills which would be a start to fixing this mess. Thanks for the help!

[cassiesmom]

LH, there was a demonstration today in downtown Chicago about this, and I thought of you.

Here's a story. http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/04/...g-legislation/

[moosmom]

While people complain every time the price of a postage stamp goes up..where can you get ANYTHING for that price??? And while you and I have had issues here, and some heated debates, I'm ALWAYS happy to help a friend.

CT covered on my end.

Good luck, dude!!