Newhouse Votes No on Massive USPS Bailout

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) issued the following statement after the he voted no on H.R. 8015, the Delivering for America Act, which would give the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) a $25 billion bailout while prohibiting improvements or reforms to keep the agency solvent:

"The U.S. Postal Service - which relies on the sale of stamps, postage, and parcel delivery for funding - has been losing revenue as we transition into a more online world, but many of our rural communities in Central Washington still rely on physical mail. I believe it is the responsibility of Congress to ensure the solvency and the function of USPS, but the Delivering for America Act is a political response to a manufactured crisis.

The truth is the USPS is entirely capable of handling a relatively minor increase in mail volume ahead of the election and will in fact benefit from the associated revenue and relatively low costs of delivering more flat pieces of mail. In fact, if every single registered American decided to vote by mail, the total possible volume of requested and mailed in ballots would not exceed a typical day of USPS mail delivery.

Congress should not - and cannot afford to - throw massive amounts of taxpayer dollars at a problem without addressing the underlying roots, and that is exactly what this legislation does. By prohibiting USPS from making important reforms to protect their employees and increase efficiency of mail delivery, we are doing all of our communities a disservice.

It is my hope the USPS will utilize the $10 billion loan authorized in the CARES Act should they deem it necessary to continue to provide safe and efficient delivery of mail throughout this pandemic, this election, and into the future. Postmaster General DeJoy says there is 'ample capacity to deliver all election mail,' and I support working in a bipartisan manner to ensure that remains the case across the country."

There has been a lot of misinformation spread about USPS and the need for legislation like the Delivering for America Act. For example:

Myth: The Delivering for America Act will help USPS.

Facts:

· This legislation pours billions of taxpayer dollars into an organization with a broken business model and will do nothing to allow USPS to fix what everyone acknowledges is no longer working.

· The bill will prohibit USPS from implementing or approving any changes to operations or service from those in effect on January 1, 2020 – prior to the pandemic. At a time of uncertainty USPS should have more flexibility dealing with the pandemic – not less.

· This broad overreach of congressional influence into the day-to-day operations of USPS would prevent the following:

• Temporary closures of processing plants or post offices for cleaning if an employee tests positive for COVID-19.
• Changes that happen due to unforeseen transportation delays out of control of USPS.
• Potentially necessary post office branch hour reduction due to pandemic-related employee availability.
• Any attempts to make USPS more efficient to cut down on operational costs as it experiences historically low volumes of mail.

· Earlier this Congress, the House passed the USPS Fairness Act, which would eliminate the requirement for USPS to pre-fund employee retirement health benefits decades in advance. Rep. Newhouse is a cosponsor of this legislation and proudly voted in support of the bill.

Click here to read more Myths & Facts about the U.S. Postal Service.