Make USPS better, not worse

The refrain that Donald Trump came into office with the intention to “drain the swamp” in Washington collapses before the current fiscal crisis which threatens the existence of an effective United States Postal Service – and the rights of millions to vote in November. Through inaction, the president engendered the current crisis, not just in the last few months, but for years. The reason: Trump refused to listen to civil rights legend John Lewis.

Lionized for his legacy throughout the t2020 Democratic convention, one prediction that the hero of the Edmund Pettus Bridge made was left unspoken – even amidst the nearly simultaneous warnings throughout last week’s telecast that the USPS funding crisis could lead to hundreds of thousands of postal votes left uncounted in November 2020. Before his death, Congressman Lewis warned that if the Post Office was prevented from diversifying its services into rural and urban banking, it would be almost impossible to avoid the fiscal crisis now underway.

The USPS has operated for decades as a self-funding agency. Stamps and services are supposed to cover its expenses. Conventional second class mail volume, though, has fallen to its lowest level since 1985, due to the rise in email and other electronic communications. Meanwhile, postage fees have not even kept up with the rate of inflation in the last several decades.

That’s partially by design. No one wants to charge several dollars to buy a stamp for a letter. At .55 cents, basic postage seems expensive enough. Nevertheless, the resulting fiscal deficit threatened bankruptcy for the U.S. Postal Service by early 2021. The early answer of the GOP Congressional leadership, to close urban and rural post offices and end Saturday delivery, died before a bipartisan outcry; the closures would emasculate underserved communities in the center of cities – and far from them. Democracy, after all, depends upon an affordable method of paper communication, as does the printed press, political pamphlets, and the franking privilege. After all, the post office serves as the prime method for members of Congress to communicate with their constituents.

When the COVID-19 epidemic particularly ravaged elderly and minority communities, the fundamental necessity to be able to send a mail-in vote in a timely fashion never before seemed more clear, and the USPS more critical to the functioning of the American republic. It was at this juncture that the Trump-appointed U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in an attempt to ward off the looming bankruptcy of his self-funding department began cutting jobs, sorting capabilities and processing within the post office.

As a result, efficiency within the USPS was scheduled to plummet, and hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots were in danger of arriving too many days beyond the November 3, 2020 election for those votes to be counted. Since Democrats utilize postal voting at a rate 2/3 more than Republicans, the timing of the fiscal reforms seemed a bit too convenient – a bit too much like suppressing the vote in order to re-elect Donald Trump, especially after the White House refused any form of a congressional bailout of the post office from the general fund to plug the fiscal deficit, and avoid the 2021 potential bankruptcy.

The Trump Administration argued that such a move would undermine the self-funding nature of the USPS. Of course, Congress subsidized the United States Postal Service for more than a century and a half. It stood as one of the largest sections of the federal government through most of our history, not surprising since it is the only federal agency specifically mandated by the U.S. Constitution.

Last week, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy reportedly backed off on the cuts thanks to the outcry, suspending all operational reforms and initiatives until after the November presidential election. Still, without a yearly congressional appropriation, the current structure of the post office will go bankrupt by 2021. However, along with the late Rep. Elijah Cummings, John Lewis had repeatedly proposed legislation which would have allowed the U.S. Postal Service to maintain its current levels of staff, as well as keep open “low performing” rural and urban post offices while not taking a dollar from the U.S. Treasury.

Congressman Lewis wanted to turn post offices into banks. Or, more properly, make them limited S&Ls (savings and loan) with federal Credit Union aspects. In other words, in each office, provide services which the British Royal Mail and the Canada Post systems offer. He co-wrote legislation to allow post offices to provide basic banking services, from money-transfer to money-orders to certificates of deposit to savings accounts – and perhaps even more.

This reform, championed by the Congressman’s ally, AUSPL board member Gary Phillips, would also underwrite the cost of keeping small post offices open, and Saturday delivery active. However, the legislation offered by John Lewis and Elijah Cummings fell before a banking lobby which feared the competition that the corner post office could provide. The Trump administration (and even many Democrats in Congress, frankly) specifically rejected this concept thanks to the power of financial services lobbyists.

So, without changing the statutory code governing the U.S. Post Office to allow basic banking services, the only fiscal solutions remained either massive layoffs or a taxpayer bailout – and potential votes uncounted. As young men, both John Lewis and Elijah Cummings took beatings from police so that everyone had the right to vote. As young men, both John Lewis and Elijah Cummings took beatings from police so that everyone had the right to vote.

Yet their physical and psychological bravery during the civil rights struggle failed before the influence of the banks and, perhaps, Trump’s desire to win re-election at all costs.

This article originally published in the August 24, 2020 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.