The oversight watchdog of the Postal Service asked lawmakers on Capitol Hill to clearly define its universal service obligation, which mandates that it affordably deliver mail to every citizen, as the regulator looks to further cut the agency’s costs.
Acting Postal Regulatory Commission Chairman Robert Taub testified before a House oversight subcommittee on Thursday, urging the body to clarify the Postal Service’s operating requirements as it seeks to cut down on as many costs as possible for the financially struggling USPS. But Staub also painted a much rosier picture of the agency than what USPS leaders have said publicly.
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“The singular action the commission believes is critical that Congress enact: define the universal service obligation,” Taub said. “Clearly defining the USO means describing what the country needs from our Postal Service and setting up a system to fully pay for it.”
Pundits and leaders in the Postal Service have called for greater clarification from Congress on what its daily operating expenditures should be, citing that redefining the universal service obligation framework could bring in more revenue for the agency or enable necessary funding reforms. Taub gave some examples of “tough questions” that Congress should reconsider, which could heavily reshape the Postal Service’s operations.
“Those tough questions,” Taub said, “may include: How many days of delivery each week are needed in 2026 and beyond? What are acceptable delivery service times across the nation? Does the Postal Service need to offer fewer or more products and services? Should delivery service and access be the same across the nation?”
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Despite still urging Congress to reconsider the universal service obligation, which is something Postmaster General David Steiner has also argued for, Taub challenged Steiner’s assertion that the USPS could become financially bankrupt by the end of the year. Taub argued that after the USPS suspended its biweekly $200 million payments to the Office of Personnel Management’s Federal Employees Retirement System, it gave the Postal Service “at least another several years” of financial “breathing room.”
“So it is very clear how circumstances have changed since the postmaster general’s testimony in March,” Taub said. “The commission provided the Postal Service a total of potentially $15 billion or more in relief through 2030 and averted a cash crisis in the near term by issuing a waiver of its regulations requiring minimum retirement payments.
“The commission’s action offers some breathing room and extends the time before the Postal Service’s reported insolvency and the stated crisis of stopping mail delivery to at least another several years, provided the Postal Service makes judicious decisions about its expenditures, starting now.”
Taub said the wiggle room allows Congress “an opportunity to enact thoughtful and fundamental change, as opposed to choices of desperation.”
Taub’s tone on this is vastly different from the prior tone of the Postal Service on its financial straits. Steiner testified in March that the USPS “will be out of cash in less than 12 months” if serious change did not occur. In April, when the Postal Service suspended its FERS pension payments, a USPS spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that the move provided “only a small financial cushion.”
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“Given the enormous scale of the Postal Service, $400 million in monthly savings by this action provides only a small financial cushion,” the USPS spokesperson said in April. “To avoid a worst-case scenario of illiquidity and inability to fund operations, we are urging Congress to act this year to expand the Postal Service borrowing authority and enact other public policy changes.”
The Washington Examiner has reached out to the USPS for comment on Taub’s financial assessment.
