By Tim Kephart
The United States Postal Service is in dire need of money and have turned to Congress, including South Florida Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, to help get its financial house in order.
Specifically, the USPS wants Diaz-Balart and other Congressional members to allow the postal service to: eliminate mandates requiring $5.5 billion annual retiree health benefit pre-payments; allow the USPS to access the surpluses from the Civil Service Retirement System and the Federal Employee Retiree System; and let the Postal Service determine the frequency of mail delivery.
The USPS said it’s in a “dire financial predicament” despite recent downsizing and increases in costs of stamps and other postal services. If Congress doesn’t act, the USPS said it can’t meet the $5.5 billion pre-payment due by September 30.
In addition, the USPS said that a cash shortfall is imminent and that “the Postal Service is facing the real prospect that it will not be able to meet payroll next (fiscal) year, thus disrupting mail delivery.”
But as Congress struggles to enact steep budget cuts, it remains to be seen whether the USPS’ requests will fall on deaf ears.
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