04-27-2020, 07:31 PM
USPS requests $75B amid pandemic to recover
from ‘steep’ drop in mail volume
By Jory Heckman | @jheckmanWFED
April 9, 2020 4:55 pm
Postmaster General Megan Brennan warned the House Oversight
and Reform Committee last year the
Postal Service would run out of cash by 2024 without
legislative and regulatory reform.
But with a sharp drop in mail volume during the coronavirus pandemic,
Brennan told committee members in a virtual briefing Thursday
that USPS will “run out of cash this fiscal year” without further
financial assistance.
Brennan said that USPS now expects a $13 billion revenue loss
tied “directly to COVID-19” this fiscal year. Over the next 18 months,
that loss would approach $22 billion and would exceed $54 billion
within the next decade, “threatening our ability to operate.”
“We are at a critical juncture in the life of the Postal Service.
At a time when America needs the Postal Service more than ever,
the reason we are so needed is having a devastating effect on
our business,” Brennan said. “The Postal Service relies on the
sale of postal products and services to fund our operations, and
these sales are plummeting as a result of the pandemic.
The sudden drop in mail volumes, our most profitable
revenue stream, is steep and may never fully recover. ”
While the Postal Service received $10 billion in additional borrowing
authority under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and
Economic Security (CARES) Act, the agency’s Board of Governors
is asking Congress for $75 billion in total financial relief in the
next coronavirus spending bill.
Insight by LexisNexis Risk Solutions: Federal technology experts share what’s ahead
in digital identity and verification in this exclusive executive briefing.
The board has asked for $25 billion in emergency appropriations,
an additional $25 billion line of credit from the Treasury Department
and yet another $25 billion for “shovel-ready” projects to modernize
the agency’s aging vehicle fleet and facilities.
The proposals go beyond what committee members — including
chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and government operations
subcommittee chairman Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) — proposed
in the House version of the $2 trillion spending deal.
“The Postal Service is holding on for dear life, and unless Congress
and the White House provide meaningful relief in the next stimulus bill,
the Postal Service could cease to exist,”
Maloney said in a statement Thursday.
While USPS is considered an “essential service” during pandemic,
Connolly said the Trump administration has yet to give postal employees
the resources and protections commensurate with this emergency designation.
“We cannot allow the Postal Service to collapse,” Connolly said in a statement.
“To do so would deepen our nation’s economic crisis and eliminate an
important lifeline to the 1 million individuals who receive lifesaving
prescription deliveries and eviscerate the very infrastructure we need
to administer the upcoming elections.”
National security subcommittee chairman Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.)
noted that postal employees have delivered essential medical supplies
and protective equipment during the pandemic, while
Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.) noted that USPS provides essential
infrastructure for the 2020 census and for mail-in ballots
during an election year.
from ‘steep’ drop in mail volume
By Jory Heckman | @jheckmanWFED
April 9, 2020 4:55 pm
Postmaster General Megan Brennan warned the House Oversight
and Reform Committee last year the
Postal Service would run out of cash by 2024 without
legislative and regulatory reform.
But with a sharp drop in mail volume during the coronavirus pandemic,
Brennan told committee members in a virtual briefing Thursday
that USPS will “run out of cash this fiscal year” without further
financial assistance.
Brennan said that USPS now expects a $13 billion revenue loss
tied “directly to COVID-19” this fiscal year. Over the next 18 months,
that loss would approach $22 billion and would exceed $54 billion
within the next decade, “threatening our ability to operate.”
“We are at a critical juncture in the life of the Postal Service.
At a time when America needs the Postal Service more than ever,
the reason we are so needed is having a devastating effect on
our business,” Brennan said. “The Postal Service relies on the
sale of postal products and services to fund our operations, and
these sales are plummeting as a result of the pandemic.
The sudden drop in mail volumes, our most profitable
revenue stream, is steep and may never fully recover. ”
While the Postal Service received $10 billion in additional borrowing
authority under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and
Economic Security (CARES) Act, the agency’s Board of Governors
is asking Congress for $75 billion in total financial relief in the
next coronavirus spending bill.
Insight by LexisNexis Risk Solutions: Federal technology experts share what’s ahead
in digital identity and verification in this exclusive executive briefing.
The board has asked for $25 billion in emergency appropriations,
an additional $25 billion line of credit from the Treasury Department
and yet another $25 billion for “shovel-ready” projects to modernize
the agency’s aging vehicle fleet and facilities.
The proposals go beyond what committee members — including
chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and government operations
subcommittee chairman Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) — proposed
in the House version of the $2 trillion spending deal.
“The Postal Service is holding on for dear life, and unless Congress
and the White House provide meaningful relief in the next stimulus bill,
the Postal Service could cease to exist,”
Maloney said in a statement Thursday.
While USPS is considered an “essential service” during pandemic,
Connolly said the Trump administration has yet to give postal employees
the resources and protections commensurate with this emergency designation.
“We cannot allow the Postal Service to collapse,” Connolly said in a statement.
“To do so would deepen our nation’s economic crisis and eliminate an
important lifeline to the 1 million individuals who receive lifesaving
prescription deliveries and eviscerate the very infrastructure we need
to administer the upcoming elections.”
National security subcommittee chairman Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.)
noted that postal employees have delivered essential medical supplies
and protective equipment during the pandemic, while
Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.) noted that USPS provides essential
infrastructure for the 2020 census and for mail-in ballots
during an election year.
Semper Fidelis
![[Image: SyAa0qj.png]](https://i.imgur.com/SyAa0qj.png)
USMC
USMC
Nemo me impune lacessit
