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The House of Representatives will vote today on the revised "Delivering for America Act” https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/19/politics/house-democrats-revised-postal-service-bill-usps/index.html
-includes $25 billion in additional USPS funding
-explicitly prohibits any operational changes made this year that impede service 1/
-includes $25 billion in additional USPS funding
-explicitly prohibits any operational changes made this year that impede service 1/
How did we get to this point? It’s important to begin with the Constitution (Article I, Section 8, clause 7) which gives Congress the power and the responsibility: “To establish Post Offices and post Roads” https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artI-S8-C7-1-1/ALDE_00001068/ 2/
The privatization of the USPS plot began as early as 1968, when the Koch brothers (especially Charles) invested in publications pushing their *free market* (essentially anarcho-capitalist) view of how society should be ordered https://prospect.org/power/one-billionaire-versus-the-mail/ 3/
The younger of the 2 most politically active Koch brothers, David (now deceased), was the Libertarian Party’s VP candidate in 1980. The party platform that year essentially mirrors the Koch’s ideology (& should give any civic-minded person chills) https://wallstreetonparade.com/2020/08/pull-back-the-curtain-on-efforts-to-kill-the-u-s-postal-service-and-out-pops-koch-money/ 4/
For a deep dive into Charles Koch, the many organizations his network controls, & how they are targeting the USPS, see https://www.inthepublicinterest.org/wp-content/uploads/ITPI_USPSPrivatization_July2020.pdf 5/
President Ford warned against privatization: “[b]usinesses would only enter those ‘markets where the [USPS] makes money’ and universal service would be at risk without revenues from these profitable markets to subsidize mail delivery in rural areas” https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-conservative-case-for-the-u-s-postal-service/ 6/
1987: Charles Koch’s ‘right-hand man’ Richard Fink was appointed to President Reagan’s privatization committee. Fink pushed USPS privatization https://prospect.org/power/one-billionaire-versus-the-mail/ 7/
1988: James C. Miller, III wrote a paper on the benefits of privatizing the USPS for the Koch-funded Cato Institute, while leading the Office of Management and Budget https://prospect.org/power/one-billionaire-versus-the-mail/ 8/
2003: James C. Miller, III was elected to the USPS Board of Governors by a committee chaired by Representative Susan Collins (-R, Maine) https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/shrg10850noms.pdf?attempt=2 9/
2006: The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA) “required the USPS to create a $72 billion fund to pay for the cost of its post-retirement health care costs, 75 years into the future” (no other US govt agency has this requirement) https://ips-dc.org/how-congress-manufactured-a-postal-crisis-and-how-to-fix-it/ 10/
James C. Miller, III (now chair of the BOG) pushed Senator Susan Collins to support PAEA. “This weighed on the Postal Service’s balance sheets so it went from annual profits of about $1 billion to losses, after having to account for $5 billion more in expenses each year” 11/
(source for the above quote https://prospect.org/power/one-billionaire-versus-the-mail/) 12/
2012: In a (seemingly) bizarre twist, PRESIDENT OBAMA tried to appoint James C. Miller, III to serve ANOTHER TERM on the USPS Board of Governors, despite Miller’s known views on USPS privatization dating back to his tenure as Reagan’s OMB director http://www.postal-reporter.com/blog/apwu-federal-civil-rights-groups-oppose-nominees-to-usps-board-of-governors/ 13/
2013: Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe tried to claim that he had the authority to eliminate Saturday delivery. Congress https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/postal-service-modernization-bills-introduced-saturday-mail-preserved & the GAO https://www.gao.gov/products/b-324481 shut him down 14/
Regarding the above, see this article & a great quote from @GerryConnolly 
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/22/us/politics/gao-rejects-post-offices-5-day-delivery-service.html 15/
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/22/us/politics/gao-rejects-post-offices-5-day-delivery-service.html 15/
March 2020: “Democrats sought federal funding for [USPS] which usually sustains itself through its own revenue [COVID19 impacts]...Congress approved a $10 billion line of credit, but left it to the discretion of the Treasury Dept. This was a mistake” https://prospect.org/blogs/tap/treasurys-role-in-the-postal-sabotage/ 16/
May 6, 2020: Trump donor Louis Dejoy https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2020/08/06/trump-megadonor-charge-u-s-postal-service-poses-grave-threat-u-s-elections/ was appointed by a unanimous decision of the USPS Board of Governors https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2020/0506-bog-announces-selection-of-louis-dejoy-to-serve-as-nations-75th-postmaster-general.htm despite glaring conflicts of interest https://www.citizensforethics.org/press-release/louis-dejoy-conflicts-of-interest-letter/ 17/
USPS has been an autonomous agency since 1970, but Mnuchin & Dejoy are conspiring to give the Trump administration access to USPS internal operations (loan terms contingent upon destructive changes to USPS procedure) https://consortiumnews.com/2020/07/30/covid19-new-usps-loan-could-accelerate-demise-of-postal-service/ 18/
It’s been suggested that Mnuchin actually RECRUITED Dejoy. When the Treasury Department was less than forthcoming in response to their FOIA request about the particulars, @CREWcrew filed suit https://www.citizensforethics.org/lawsuit/postmaster-usps-louis-dejoy-treasury/ 19/
. @RepMaloney received internal USPS documents showing there has been more than a “dip” in USPS delay following the unprecedented changes instituted by Dejoy https://oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/new-postal-service-documents-show-nationwide-delays-far-worse-than-postal 20/
Another internal USPS memo suggests that Dejoy was not entirely forthcoming in his testimony given under oath to members of Congress https://www.salon.com/2020/08/21/internal-usps-memo-appears-to-contradict-postmaster-generals-testimony/ 21/
