For Immediate Release: August 4, 2009
Contact: Bette Phelan (202) 224-2441
HEARING: "The U.S. Postal Service in Crisis"
Carper's Subcommittee Looks To Keep Postal Service Alive &Well
WASHINGTON – As the U.S. Postal Service faces its worst crisis in decades, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) will hold a hearing this Thursday to examine changes needed to put the postal service and its employees on better financial footing moving forward.
Sen. Carper, as chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services and International Security that oversees the Postal Service, has held several postal hearings and recently introduced legislation (the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Funding Reform Act of 2009) to restructure the Postal Service’s retiree health-related payments and give postal management the financial breathing room they need to get the Postal Service through the most difficult months of the recession.
Sen. Carper has stressed that not only does the Postal Service need to think outside the box as fewer American send mail in this new digital era, but that Congress needs to give postal management the freedom to streamline postal operations and make be more creative in offering customers the kinds of goods and services they want at a time when alternatives to hard-copy mail are growing.
WHAT: “The U.S. Postal Service in Crisis”
WHEN: Thursday, August 6 at 10:00 a.m.
WHERE: 342 Dirksen Senate Office Building
WITNESSES:
Panel I:
- The Honorable John E. Potter, Postmaster General, United States Postal Service
- The Honorable Ruth Goldway, Chairman, Postal Regulatory Commission
- Mr. David Williams, Inspector General, United States Postal Service
- Ms. Nancy Kichak, Associate Director, Strategic Human Resources Policy Division, U.S. Office of Personnel Management
- Mr. Phil Herr, Director of Infrastructure Issues, Government Accountability Office
Panel II
- Mr. Fredric Rolando, President, National Association of Letter Carriers
- Mr. William Burrus, President, American Postal Workers Union AFL-CIO
- Mr. Dale Goff, President, National Association of Postmasters of the United States
- Mr. James E. West, Director, Postal and Legislative Affairs, Williams-Sonoma, Inc.
- Mr. Mark Suwyn, NewPage Corporation, Executive Chairman
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