A mailman wearing a mask and gloves loads a postal truck with packages at a United States Postal Service (USPS) post office location in Washington, D.C. on April 16, 2020. (Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
Apr 21, 2020
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday evening will hold a virtual town hall with the leaders of America's top postal unions to discuss how to save the U.S. Postal Service as the popular government institution faces the possibility of total collapse without a rapid infusion of funding from Congress.
"The situation is absolutely dire," Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU), told New York magazine in an interview last week.
The USPS has been hit hard by the sharp decline in mail volume caused by the coronavirus outbreak. The Postal Service also remains shackled by a congressional mandate requiring the agency to prefund its retirees' health benefits through the year 2056.
"The post office will likely run out of money sometime between July and September of this year," said Dimondstein. "If they run out of money, then the people lose the service."
In addition to Sanders and Dimondstein, National Association of Letter Carriers president Fredric Rolando, National Postal Mail Handlers Union president Paul Hogrogian, and APWU legislative and political director Judy Beard will also be taking part in Tuesday's town hall, which is scheduled to begin at 7:00 pm ET.
Watch:
After President Donald Trump threatened to veto the previous coronavirus relief package if it contained direct funding for the Postal Service, progressives are making USPS funding a key priority for the next major Covid-19 stimulus bill.
"We cannot allow Donald Trump to use this horrific pandemic as an opportunity to bankrupt and privatize the Postal Service," Sanders tweeted earlier this month. "Now, more than ever, we need a strong and vibrant postal system to deliver mail 6-days a week. Congress must act now to save it."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Our Summer Campaign is now underway, and there’s never been a more urgent time for Common Dreams to be as vigilant as possible. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday evening will hold a virtual town hall with the leaders of America's top postal unions to discuss how to save the U.S. Postal Service as the popular government institution faces the possibility of total collapse without a rapid infusion of funding from Congress.
"The situation is absolutely dire," Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU), told New York magazine in an interview last week.
The USPS has been hit hard by the sharp decline in mail volume caused by the coronavirus outbreak. The Postal Service also remains shackled by a congressional mandate requiring the agency to prefund its retirees' health benefits through the year 2056.
"The post office will likely run out of money sometime between July and September of this year," said Dimondstein. "If they run out of money, then the people lose the service."
In addition to Sanders and Dimondstein, National Association of Letter Carriers president Fredric Rolando, National Postal Mail Handlers Union president Paul Hogrogian, and APWU legislative and political director Judy Beard will also be taking part in Tuesday's town hall, which is scheduled to begin at 7:00 pm ET.
Watch:
After President Donald Trump threatened to veto the previous coronavirus relief package if it contained direct funding for the Postal Service, progressives are making USPS funding a key priority for the next major Covid-19 stimulus bill.
"We cannot allow Donald Trump to use this horrific pandemic as an opportunity to bankrupt and privatize the Postal Service," Sanders tweeted earlier this month. "Now, more than ever, we need a strong and vibrant postal system to deliver mail 6-days a week. Congress must act now to save it."
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday evening will hold a virtual town hall with the leaders of America's top postal unions to discuss how to save the U.S. Postal Service as the popular government institution faces the possibility of total collapse without a rapid infusion of funding from Congress.
"The situation is absolutely dire," Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU), told New York magazine in an interview last week.
The USPS has been hit hard by the sharp decline in mail volume caused by the coronavirus outbreak. The Postal Service also remains shackled by a congressional mandate requiring the agency to prefund its retirees' health benefits through the year 2056.
"The post office will likely run out of money sometime between July and September of this year," said Dimondstein. "If they run out of money, then the people lose the service."
In addition to Sanders and Dimondstein, National Association of Letter Carriers president Fredric Rolando, National Postal Mail Handlers Union president Paul Hogrogian, and APWU legislative and political director Judy Beard will also be taking part in Tuesday's town hall, which is scheduled to begin at 7:00 pm ET.
Watch:
After President Donald Trump threatened to veto the previous coronavirus relief package if it contained direct funding for the Postal Service, progressives are making USPS funding a key priority for the next major Covid-19 stimulus bill.
"We cannot allow Donald Trump to use this horrific pandemic as an opportunity to bankrupt and privatize the Postal Service," Sanders tweeted earlier this month. "Now, more than ever, we need a strong and vibrant postal system to deliver mail 6-days a week. Congress must act now to save it."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.