FACT: Congress and the Obama Administration have the ability to empower the U.S. Postal Service to operate more like a business by giving postal management more control over decisions about its financial well-being. We can prevent this from happening; but if nothing is done to address the current constraints on the Postal Service, it will default on its retiree health payment at the end of this month, struggle to make payroll and meet other key financial obligations this fall, and be insolvent by August 2012, if not sooner.

The lede of a New York Times story on September 4, 2011, framed it this way: "The United States Postal Service has long lived on the financial edge, but it has never been as close to the precipice as it is today: the agency is so low on cash that it will not be able to make a $5.5 billion payment due this month and may have to shut down entirely this winter unless Congress takes emergency action to stabilize its finances."

FACT: Allowing a default would jeopardize our already fragile economic recovery and endanger the jobs of over 7 million employees in the mailing industry who depend on a healthy U.S. Postal Service, despite what reform may come after a default.

In a 2008 report, the Envelope Manufacturers Association said: "The mailing and delivery industries continue to be associated with a significant number of jobs in the economy. ... [T]he 8.3 million jobs identified here are the core of a larger industry footprint. The industry also creates jobs through the purchases of the businesses that employ these 8.3 million workers as well as the personal purchases of these employees. An examination of Department of Commerce economic impact factors for the printing, advertising, Postal Service, and paper industries suggest that mailing industry businesses and employees together generate at least an additional 3.2 million jobs in the economy…. over 2.1 million jobs can be identified in firms that deliver mail or parcels, produce mail, or supply these firms. An additional 2.5 million jobs are in mail related occupations in firms that are not classified in an identifiable mail-related industry."

FACT: The creation of a new commission only reinforces congressional micromanagement of the U.S. Postal Service and keeps it from being able to decide for itself, like any other business would, where and when to open or close retail locations or distribution centers.

Kate Muth, a former vice president for the Association for Postal Commerce, once wrote an op-ed for their website entitled, "Congress should stick to oversight and avoid micromanagement." In it, she said, "While oversight is necessary -- especially when the entity being reviewed is a government entity with monopoly rights -- meddling provides little value and micromanagement is downright dangerous. Unfortunately, it appears that Congress is heading from oversight to meddling, with a threat of micromanagement. I find it frustrating that Congress thinks it knows better than the Postal Service how to operate its business."

Additionally, financial journalist Felix Salmon wrote for Reuters.com on September 6, 2011: "Congress is micromanaging the Post Office, telling it how much it can raise postage rates, telling it that it can’t offer financial services (despite its huge business in money orders), telling it that it can’t get into all manner of other businesses either and telling it that it has to deliver mail on Saturdays. Astonishingly, amid all these rules and regulations, the Post Office is losing billions of dollars."