Post Office Resolution

WHEREAS, between the Revolutionary period and the first World War, the United States Post Office made it a priority to improve transportation of the post office mails by developing and subsidizing every new mode of transportation in the United States;

WHEREAS, postal workers provide many vital services, including connecting rural communities, supporting small businesses and making sure seniors can get their prescription drugs delivered on time;

WHEREAS, the hardest hit citizens by post office closure and service curtailment would be those already challenged to travel either due to distance or economics, or both – the poor, the elderly, the handicapped, rural communities would be severely affected;

WHEREAS, the Postal Service does not presently receive taxpayer dollars as it did in the past and is currently funded solely through the sale of stamps, shipping costs and other services fund;

WHEREAS, the Postal Service has been crippled by a series of accounting rulings that have imposed enormous penalties on it ever since it was first established as a government-run company (as opposed to a government agency) in the early 1970s;

WHEREAS, the requirement for the Postal Service to fully fund an account now for the retiree benefits it will pay out decades into the future, something that no other business in America has ever been required to do, is the primary cause of the increasing debt;

WHEREAS, requiring the federal Office of Personnel Management to return some $50 billion in overpayments the Postal Service made to the Civil Service Retirement System because of the prepay payroll policy would allow the Postal Service to meet its fiscal year requirements and other debts as the system seeks to further transform itself in the digital age;

WHEREAS, the intent of the simple language of Article I, Section 8, Clause 7 of the United States Constitution, “To establish Post Offices and post Roads,” could be expanded by legislation to include: Internet access, Wi-Fi access, FAX service, Web design, Check cashing, money wires, ATM, Copying/printing/binding, etc., Notary services, Driver’s license renewal, title requests, unemployment services, etc., hunting and fishing licenses, other services;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT the federal Office of Personnel Management return some $50 billion in overpayments the Postal Service made to the Civil Service Retirement System in order to allow the Postal Service to meet its fiscal year requirements and other debts as the system seeks to further transform itself in the digital age; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT Post Services be expanded by legislation to include: Internet access, Wi-Fi access, FAX service, Web design, Check cashing, money wires, ATM, Copying/printing/binding, etc., Notary services, Driver’s license renewal, title requests, unemployment services, etc., hunting and fishing licenses, and other services; and

BE IT RESOLVED THAT the overfunding of retiree benefits mandated by The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 be repealed in future legislation.