Posted on 08/01/2012 7:53:49 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Pelosi: House GOP Inaction Leads to United States Postal Service Default August 01, 2012
Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today after House Republican inaction led to the U.S. Postal Service’s first default in its history. Earlier in April, the Senate passed a bipartisan postal reform bill to keep the post office open and prevent it from defaulting; however, House Republicans refused to act on this legislation or even bring it up for a vote:
“Today, House Republicans have irresponsibly set into motion the default of the United States Postal Service for the first time in history.
“To manufacture yet another crisis, the Republican leadership refused to allow consideration of postal reform legislation that passed the Senate with a strong bipartisan majority months ago and that would have easily prevented a default. Instead, Republicans have shown no interest in offering meaningful solutions – including a path to address the Postal Service’s unique requirement to prepay retiree health benefits.
“Millions of Americans rely on the Post Office as a lifeline – keeping senior citizens connected, ensuring services to rural areas, delivering vital medicines, and facilitating our nation’s commerce. Democrats strongly support the survival and viability of the Post Office, and we call on the House Republican leadership to bring up the bipartisan Senate postal reform legislation without further delay.”
And as I’ve said before, the stock response needs to be:
“The House of Representatives did what the voters sent us here to do and what the Constitution requires of us: we passed a budget. We invite the Senate to do the same, as they have failed to pass a single budget for over three years now.”
“The House of Representatives did what the voters sent us here to do and what the Constitution requires of us: we passed a budget. We invite the Senate to do the same, as they have failed to pass a single budget for over three years now.”
Spot on!!!!
650,000 pretend jobs made obsolescent by the internet
what was the government thinking when it invented the internet and put all those letter carriers out of work?
We discontinued mail service at our house when we caught our mail carrier on video sorting through and stealing pieces of our mail. She was after credit and debit cards.
A question if I may. Do you think there is a need to provide secure handwritten communications between two or more individuals/ associations? If so, should the Government be required to protect each citizens right to be secure in their communications?
The United States Postal Service is a quasi- governmental Coperation that acts as the agent for the sender of each piece of said communication. Do the private express statues bother you?
To save the postal service we need to orivatize the postal service...
This is the way they think and explains the grave macro-economic problems we face.
As M. Steyn points out, for example, home ownership doesn’t make people responsible as the Democrats believed in demanding that home loans be made to borrowers who were not credit worthy. Compounding the matter, they insisted on no money down loans and `walking around’ money to boot given to the borrower. Thanks Barney!
So the borrowers demonstrated why they couldn’t get conventional loans: they couldn’t make their mortgage payments.
Like them, the federal government would be bankrupt if it couldn’t print money. The US Postal Service can’t pay its bills, like the federal government.
Time to privatize—contract-out their responsibilities to the UPS and FedX et al. Stop sucking eggs and vote Obama out on Nov. 5!
Does this ‘default’ even mean anything? Is this about nothing?
SS and medicare don't ‘default’ because congress allocates federal borrowing to make the payments to the phony ‘trust fund’ which really just goes to the SS/medicare retirees in a paper swap scam.
In this case the PO cant make it's retirement trust fund payments. so does that mean anything?
I see the Republican House wants to delay the budget cuts (again) that it passed last year in its 'historic deficit reduction bill'. In about a year Republicans have relabelled their own (labelled) 'historic deficit reduction bill' the 'doomsday bill'.... And Obama (not to leave him out) wants federal contractors to violate federal law and not send out layoff notices before the election.
Are these folks serious about ANYTHING?
The problem started in the Senate back in 2006 or thereabouts when Olympia Snowe came up with this marvelous idea of how to hide $53 billion in deficit spending. What they'd do is tap the USPS for 10 years for $5.3 billion for, allegedly, future postal retiree medical insurance costs for an hypothetical 75 year period of time!
She's retiring. The Senate still has no idea how to handle their mistake.
USPS simply isn't paying. They didn't have the money when this started. They still don't have the money. They never will have the money.
The USPS is making its payments to the retirement trust fund accounts. This is not really a retirement trust fund account.
USPS handles mostly letter mail with some parcels ~ currently many of them tendered to USPS for delivery by UPS and Fed Ex. Their volume is just short of 175,000,000,000 pieces, or about 100X as great as UPS and FedEx.
In brief, these organizations are not as similar as you imagine.
I am thinking of this
The tab comes from increased borrowing authority for the Postal Service, allowing it to borrow $11 billion more from Treasury. The Postal Service can currently borrow up to $15 billion, and has tapped $12 billion of that loan.
The other cost comes from elimination of regular billion-dollar payments, now required by law, to Treasury to pre-fund health care benefits for retirees. That $23 billion would ease financial pain for the Postal Service, but it also means less revenue to ease federal deficits.
Plan to fix Postal Service passes Senate tm
I believe the Federal Government is directed by the Constitution to provide mail service. To contract out “their responsibilities” would require an Amendment. I would suggest that includes compromising the security. Wasn’t this thread about Pelosi accusing the GOP for the post office “default”? Is it doomed to become the UPS workers and lobbiest shouting over postal supporters just because it mentions USPS?
LLS
There isn't supposed to be anything left over.
The trick here left me thinking that most of our senior Republican Senators (they did this one) are SENILE and should be removed.
The issue is really one of inter agency transfers ~ and currently Congress doesn't really care about deficits. The Senate can't even pass a budget so how'd they know if there was one anyway.
That was my point too. Obama doesn't either and I am sure we would find the same with Romney as POTUS. Actually they do care about deficits, they want to run them and they both want to be able to use them as a weapon against the other at the same time.
case and point. Obama talks endlessly about how the ‘Bush Tax Cuts’ creates deficits. So in 2010 when he has the chance and overwhelming votes to raise them on the rich, or raise them all, he gets his Dem congress to extend them all (Bush tax cuts) past his election which is what he really wanted all along without admitting it. So then how does he frame the issue?? :
1) Bush Tax cuts for the rich creates deficits. I am against them.
2) I never raised taxes on anyone(not technically true, Obama-care)
3) I tried the Bush tax cuts and it's not working.
You see he blames Republicans for the deficits due to the tax cuts, while he brags that he never raised those taxes.
This is totally non-serious.
Republicans are not much better.
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