Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said it’s urgent for the U.S. House
of Representatives to act by next month on legislation to stem U.S.
Postal Service losses running at $25 million a day.
“We have to act,” Donahoe said in a telephone interview yesterday. “It’s very important, I think, to get these issues off the table in terms of the industry. Big mailers don’t want to keep hearing the Postal Service is losing money.”
Donahoe wants a final measure that would let him close post offices and processing plants, as the House legislation would do, while including a provision from the Senate’s version that would relieve the Postal Service of a $5.5 billion annual payment for health costs.
Donahoe and the Postal Service’s board hasn’t embraced the Senate’s version, passed April 25, because it would delay closing mail facilities. He said early House action is necessary so the two chambers can arrive at a compromise.
“The later we go, the more problematic of passing a bill,” Donahoe said. “I would love to see action within the next few weeks here and wrapped up before Memorial Day,” the U.S. holiday on May 28.
The board criticized the Senate bill for delaying cutting a day of mail delivery each week and for keeping open “unneeded facilities.” Yesterday, Donahoe praised the bill’s provisions that would effectively eliminate an annual $5.5 billion payment for future retirees’ health-care costs and would authorize the service to branch out into other businesses.
“We have to act,” Donahoe said in a telephone interview yesterday. “It’s very important, I think, to get these issues off the table in terms of the industry. Big mailers don’t want to keep hearing the Postal Service is losing money.”
Donahoe wants a final measure that would let him close post offices and processing plants, as the House legislation would do, while including a provision from the Senate’s version that would relieve the Postal Service of a $5.5 billion annual payment for health costs.
Donahoe and the Postal Service’s board hasn’t embraced the Senate’s version, passed April 25, because it would delay closing mail facilities. He said early House action is necessary so the two chambers can arrive at a compromise.
“The later we go, the more problematic of passing a bill,” Donahoe said. “I would love to see action within the next few weeks here and wrapped up before Memorial Day,” the U.S. holiday on May 28.
The board criticized the Senate bill for delaying cutting a day of mail delivery each week and for keeping open “unneeded facilities.” Yesterday, Donahoe praised the bill’s provisions that would effectively eliminate an annual $5.5 billion payment for future retirees’ health-care costs and would authorize the service to branch out into other businesses.
No comments:
Post a Comment