Senate Hearing: U.S. Postal Service in Crisis 9/6/11

[nofurylike]

U.S. Postal Service in Crisis: Proposals to Prevent a Postal Shutdown
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
02:00 PM
Dirksen Senate Office Building, room SD-342

http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/index.cfm...3db87df1f9

Live video will not be available until approximately 15 minutes prior to the scheduled hearing start time.

Panel 1
The Honorable Patrick R. Donahoe
Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer
U.S. Postal Service

The Honorable John Berry
Director
U.S. Office of Personnel Management

Phillip R. Herr
Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues
U.S. Government Accountability Office

Thomas D. Levy
Senior Vice President and Chief Actuary
The Segal Company

Panel 2

Cliff Guffey
President
American Postal Workers Union

Louis M. Atkins
President
National Association of Postal Supervisors

Ellen Levine
Editorial Director, Hearst Magazines
Hearst Corporation

Tonda F. Rush
Director of Public Policy
National Newspaper Association

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edit: corrected the month in the subject line. sorry for confusing!

[jaxx]

Postal Service on verge of going broke, shutting down
'If Congress doesn't act, we will default,' postmaster general says

The United States Postal Service has long lived on the financial edge, but it has never been as close to the precipice as it is today: the agency is so low on cash that it will not be able to make a $5.5 billion payment due this month and may have to shut down entirely this winter unless Congress takes emergency action to stabilize its finances.

“Our situation is extremely serious,” the postmaster general, Patrick R. Donahoe, said in an interview. “If Congress doesn’t act, we will default.”

In recent weeks, Mr. Donahoe has been pushing a series of painful cost-cutting measures to erase the agency’s deficit, which will reach $9.2 billion this fiscal year. They include eliminating Saturday mail delivery, closing up to 3,700 postal locations and laying off 120,000 workers — nearly one-fifth of the agency’s work force — despite a no-layoffs clause in the unions’ contracts.

The post office’s problems stem from one hard reality: it is being squeezed on both revenue and costs.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44396682/ns/...mTWr2p5p7k

That's a lot of deficit.

[nofurylike]

(09-05-2011 08:07 AM)jaxx Wrote:  Postal Service on verge of going broke, shutting down
'If Congress doesn't act, we will default,' postmaster general says

The United States Postal Service has long lived on the financial edge, but it has never been as close to the precipice as it is today: the agency is so low on cash that it will not be able to make a $5.5 billion payment due this month and may have to shut down entirely this winter unless Congress takes emergency action to stabilize its finances.

“Our situation is extremely serious,” the postmaster general, Patrick R. Donahoe, said in an interview. “If Congress doesn’t act, we will default.”

In recent weeks, Mr. Donahoe has been pushing a series of painful cost-cutting measures to erase the agency’s deficit, which will reach $9.2 billion this fiscal year. They include eliminating Saturday mail delivery, closing up to 3,700 postal locations and laying off 120,000 workers — nearly one-fifth of the agency’s work force — despite a no-layoffs clause in the unions’ contracts.

The post office’s problems stem from one hard reality: it is being squeezed on both revenue and costs.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44396682/ns/...mTWr2p5p7k

That's a lot of deficit.

yes it is! thank you, jaxx!