Read on Twitter
The USPS is required by the constitution and other myths that need dispelling, a thread.
1/23
1/23
This thread is neither and argument for or against the postal service. What this thread is meant to do is dispell the myths I keep seeing brought up by various people who have appeared on my timeline. Let's get to it shall we! (All sources to my statements will be provided)
2/
2/
Myth #1 'USPS is required by the constitution'
People usually espouse this in reference to Article 1, section 8, Clause 7, which states that congress has the power "...To establish Post Offices and Post Roads..."
3/
People usually espouse this in reference to Article 1, section 8, Clause 7, which states that congress has the power "...To establish Post Offices and Post Roads..."
3/
However this section of the constitution (Article 1) is stating the powers of the legislative branch, it has the power to do, but this does not mean it has to. Whether it should or shouldn't is a different debate altogether.
4/
4/
Myth #2 "the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 which requires USPS to prefund pensions up to 70 years in the future, (something no other federal agency is required to do)-
6/
6/
-and it is the only reason USPS is losing money, and if we struck down the law the all the financial woes of the postal service would be solved."
7/
7/
While it is true that the post office is forced to prefund pensions up to 70 years, and it is something no other federal agency is required to do and it has drained 5 billion dollars a year. It is not the only reason they are losing money.
8/
8/
While the law itself is terrible for them economically it is more devastating when coupled with the fact that they are actually already unprofitable. A look at their spreadsheets show that overall sending of mail-
9/
9/
- (especially first class mail) continues to decline affecting the revenue they generate. In 2018 they reported a net loss of 3.9 billion dollars and their mail volume continues to decline.
10/
10/
Reporting losses even in fiscal years where they didnt pay the 5 billion required for them to do by congress.
11/
11/
It's clear that the pension funding exacerbates the financial issues they have, but it is not the cause of every loss in their industry, of which there are many.
12/
12/
Sources:
https://www.gao.gov/key_issues/us_postal_service_financial_viability/issue_summary
https://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2018/pr18_093.htm
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2011/sep/29/save-americas-postal-service/ad-save-americas-postal-service-claims-rule-congre/
https://fee.org/articles/the-post-office-lost-6-billion-already-in-2019-and-is-on-pace-for-its-worst-year-since-its-2012-default/
13/
https://www.gao.gov/key_issues/us_postal_service_financial_viability/issue_summary
https://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2018/pr18_093.htm
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2011/sep/29/save-americas-postal-service/ad-save-americas-postal-service-claims-rule-congre/
https://fee.org/articles/the-post-office-lost-6-billion-already-in-2019-and-is-on-pace-for-its-worst-year-since-its-2012-default/
13/
Myth #3 "the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 which requires USPS to prefund pensions up to 70 years in the future, which troubles USPS so much is completely the fault is the GOP"
14/
14/
This is the one I see the most, hence why I've saved it for last, it's pretty fashionable these days to blame the GOP for all the worlds problems and more, furthermore this statement is also completely false. Strap in folks. We are in for a wild ride.
15/
15/
For the full story we have to go back to 2005 when the bill was actually introduced, it had a whopping 163 cosponsors, the majority of them (104) being Democrats. The bill passed the house with a vote of 410 yays and 20 nays.
16/
16/
(Pretty unanimous, why I'm including all of this will be clear later) (note this version of the bill included formulas instead of an exact dollar amount to be paid like the 2006 bill)
17/
17/
This bill died after being passed to the Senate and would reintroduced in 2006, the bill we are familiar with now, which included exact dollar amounts to be paid to prefund the pensions.
18/
18/
It was sponsered by a Republican however it was like the previous bill cosponsored by democrats and republicans alike. It passed the house, a vote was not recorded strangely enough, hence why I include the history of the bill going back to 2005,-
19/
19/
-as the vote was recorded and considering both versions of the bill passed through the 109th congressional circuit you can take a pretty good guess at what the numbers would be...
20/
20/
This bill then passed the Senate UNANIMOUSLY. That's right. Not ONE Democrat in the Senate voted against this bill. Think about that. Neither was there any particular uproar against the bill by Democrats after it passed.
21/
21/
They allowed this to happen, they did not object to it. They are just as guilty.
And those are the facts.
22/
And those are the facts.
22/
