“Leading congressional Democrats are warning that an
emergency loan agreement announced Wednesday by Treasury Secretary
Steve Mnuchin and new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy—a major donor to President
Donald Trump and the GOP—could ‘accelerate the demise of the Postal Service’ by
giving the administration unprecedented access to the popular agency's internal
operations.
“‘Secretary Mnuchin and the
leadership of the U.S. Postal Service appear to be exploiting this public
health pandemic to hold the Postal Service to unreasonable loan terms without
even consulting Congress,’ said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Sen. Gary Peters
(D-Mich.), Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), and Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) in a joint statement Wednesday evening.
“According to a loan term sheet (pdf) made public by the
lawmakers, the USPS will gain access to $10 billion in emergency funding
approved by Congress back in March provided that the agency adheres to a number
of requirements, including providing the Trump administration with ‘historical
and protected business, financial, operational, contractual, and planning data
that Treasury may determine is necessary to evaluate USPS's current and future
financial condition.’
“The agreement also requires USPS to give the Treasury
Department access to proprietary information about the Postal Service's private-sector shipping
contracts and bars the agency from
accessing the emergency funds if its ‘cash balance exceeds $8 billion. In
a statement, Mnuchin hailed the deal as a step in the direction of ‘the
president's goal of establishing a sustainable business model under which USPS
can continue to provide necessary mail service for all Americans, without
shifting costs to taxpayers.’ In April, Trump called the USPS a ‘joke’ and demanded that it dramatically hike
package prices amid the Covid-19 pandemic, which caused a sharp decline in mail
volume.
“Maloney, Peters, Connolly, and Carper said Wednesday that the
terms agreed upon by Mnuchin and DeJoy—who took over as head of the USPS just
last month—'would inappropriately insert the Treasury into the internal
operations of the Postal Service.’
“‘These terms would severely limit
the Postal Service's access to capital and could accelerate the demise of the
Postal Service that all Americans, especially seniors, small businesses,
veterans, and those living in rural communities, rely upon every day,
especially during the pandemic,’ the lawmakers said. ‘We will not stop fighting to protect this critical
service that communities depend on and to ensure that every American can safely
participate in the November elections.’
“The new loan agreement comes as DeJoy continues to rush ahead
with sweeping operational changes at the USPS that postal workers believe are part of a
deliberate effort to sabotage the beloved government institution and put it on
a path toward privatization—a longtime goal of the conservative movement.
“Last week, as Common Dreams reported, USPS leadership launched a pilot
program that could result in significant delays in mail delivery by barring
postal workers from sorting packages during their morning operations. In
Portland, Maine, letter carriers allege they are being instructed to delay
first-class parcels in order to prioritize Amazon packages.
“‘Undermining and degrading the Postal Service helps frustrate the
customer, which sets the stage to privatizing it,’ Mark Dimondstein, president
of the American Postal Workers Union, told The Intercept. ‘The Trump
administration is on record for raising prices, reducing service, and reducing
workers' rights and benefits.’
“Motherboard reported Monday that ‘post offices around
the country are slashing their hours—including during the busiest times of
day—with little notice as yet another abrupt cost-saving measure’ implemented
by DeJoy, previously the CEO of New Breed Logistics, a private firm with a
history of union-busting activity.
“‘In addition to West Virginia and New Jersey, post offices
in Berkeley, California; Petersburg, Alaska, Youngstown, Ohio, and Knoxville, Tennessee have announced
similar plans to reduce hours,’ Motherboard reported. ‘All of
the changes Motherboard has reviewed were announced only by signs hanging on
the post office doors.’
“In addition to harming the
credibility of the USPS—which ranks as the most popular government agency in the United
States—DeJoy's cost-cutting measures also threaten to
disrupt upcoming elections as an record number of Americans turn to
vote-by-mail as the safest way to cast their ballots amid the pandemic.
“‘The Trump administration's
attempts to politicize, privatize, and gut USPS in the middle of a pandemic and
unprecedented vote-by-mail is one of the biggest scandals in American politics
right now,’ Mother Jones reporter Ari Berman tweeted Wednesday.
“In an op-ed for NJ.com this
week, Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-N.J.) warned that ‘the electoral implications
for the destruction of the Postal Service are momentous. If it is forced to
curtail its service,’ Pascrell wrote, ‘our ability to hold a national election
could be obliterated’” (Lawmakers Warn 'Onerous' New USPS Loan
Terms Imposed by Mnuchin 'Could Accelerate Demise of Postal Service' by Jake Johnson for Common Dreams).
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