The chair and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee are asking their colleagues on the Senate Appropriations Committee to turn down a request from about half of the Senate to block the Postal Service from closing processing facilities next year.
USPS plans to close 82 processing facilities in 2015, which would eliminate thousands of jobs that many in the Senate want to preserve. The overwhelmingly Democrat signees say the loss of jobs would hurt local communities and erode service. With a large and diverse group of stakeholders including a huge workforce, labor unions, the huge mailing industry and others, those senators want to buy more time and address postal legislation next year.
However, Sens. Tom Carper, D-Del., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla., say blocking USPS would only “kick the can down the road.” Instead, they want the Senate to move on their Postal Reform Act of 2014, which passed committee on a 9-1 vote earlier in the year. USPS posts billions in losses every year as first class mail continues to decline, and it can’t keep up with obligations to pre-fund retiree health benefits. The bill addresses these fundamental issues, and they argue it would also preserve service standards including keeping the 82 plants in question open.
