The Obama administration inserted itself Monday into a years-old fight over the future of the U.S. Postal Service, backing proposals to end Saturday mail delivery and to raise postage rates beyond the rate of inflation.
The support for the proposals came as part of broader White House ideas to pay down the federal deficit.
But the administration declined to endorse the Postal Service’s request that Congress allow it to break labor contracts and lay off as many as 120,000 employees, a key piece of the Postal Service’s plans to cut $20 billion in costs.
Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe voiced tepid support for the White House plan, thanking President Obama for presenting “helpful recommendations.”
Although the Postal Service is a self-funding entity that doesn’t accept taxpayer dollars, it is a significant piece of the unified federal budget because its workers and retirees draw benefits from federal workers’ compensation, retirement and health-care accounts.
The White House said its proposals would provide USPS with more than $20 billion in savings in the next few years and cut the federal deficit by more than $18 billion in the next decade.
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Source: Ed O’Keefe, The Washington Post
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