WASHINGTON – Today, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.) released the following statement following the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee markup of the Postal Reform Act of 2013 (H.R. 2748), introduced by Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.):
“One thing that many of us here in Congress can agree on is that the Postal Service is in a precarious position,” said Chairman Carper. “A shift to electronic communications, changes in the economy and Congressional inaction have left the future of the Postal Service uncertain. The hard truth is that our nation is closer than we have ever been to losing the Postal Service and the industries and millions of jobs that it supports. What we now need is for Congress and the President to work together to create a set of meaningful reforms that right-size, modernize, and reform the Postal Service. Today, Chairman Issa took an important step down this road by hosting a markup on House legislation that reforms the Postal Service. While we differ in our approach in some areas, Chairman Issa and I, and the rest of our colleagues, are united in our strong commitment to restore the Postal Service to solvency and give it the tools it needs to thrive in the years to come. As chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, I continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, particularly Ranking Member Coburn, Postal Service leadership, and other stakeholders to create legislation here in the Senate that makes the changes we believe are necessary to responsibly right size and reform the Postal Service. I am remain committed to introducing a bipartisan postal reform bill in the Senate as soon as possible.”