Letter to Mitch McConnell, Majority Leader and Charles Schumer, Minority Leader - Booker, Colleagues Urge Senate Leaders for Full USPS Funding in Fourth Relief Package

Letter

Dear Leader McConnell and Leader Schumer,

We write to urge you to provide appropriate funding to the United States Postal Service (USPS)
in the next coronavirus package that Congress takes up. The USPS plays a vital role in our
country, and the outbreak of COVID-19 has only increased our reliance on the services it
provides. Millions of American families depend on the USPS to receive their medicine, pay their
bills, receive their social security benefits and remain in contact with loves ones. Our democracy
relies on the USPS to help conduct an accurate census, disburse payments or tax returns, and
provide an accessible way for citizens to vote. Even more, the USPS provides universal service
at the lowest costs to consumers in the industrialized world.

And yet, we fear that the USPS may not be available to the next generation of Americans.
Without additional resources, there is a possibility that USPS may have to reduce or limit its
services or worse as early as June.

2 The absence of the USPS would put significant strain on our economy. The USPS helps facilitate $1.7 trillion in sales each year, supporting 7.3 million private sector workers,3 in addition to nearly 650,000 USPS employees.4 For some rural

communities, which include roughly 40 million households, the absence of the USPS would be
devastating; because of their remote locations, no private sector shipper would serve them.5 And,

the absence of the USPS would jeopardize the health and safety of the one million Americans6
who receive their lifesaving medications through the USPS, many of whom are elderly and
immunocompromised--without the USPS they may have to put themselves at greater risk of
contracting potentially fatal diseases like the coronavirus.
During the third coronavirus package negotiations, House Democrats proposed investing $20
billion to reimburse the USPS for lost revenue and forgiving the USPS of its debt. We strongly
urge you to include these important investments in the next coronavirus package. The future of
the USPS, along with its nearly 650,000 employees and millions of consumers, are counting on
it.
Sincerely,

Source