It's the third time
the payment has been missed.
As if providing punctuation to last week's Senate hearing
at which it begged for legislative relief from cash-draining pre-funding
obligations, the United States Postal Service yesterday defaulted on its
mandated annual $5.6 billion payment into the retiree healthcare fund. It
marked the third time the Postal Service was unable to write the check. “Today's default is another stark reminder of the Postal Service's dire financial situation,” said Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) in a statement issued last night. Carper, along with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), is the sponsor of the Postal Reform Act, which, among other things, seeks to lighten the Postal Service's pre-funding burden. “We have sat around for too long, watching as the financial challenges facing the Postal Service grow more difficult and the potential solutions become more expensive. It has been clear to me and to others for some time that we must act to save this $1 trillion mailing industry and the over eight million jobs that depend on it.”
