into law, the USPS will be able to continue providing reliable universal service to all Americans into the futurecurrently, a congressional mandate is killing the U.S. Postal Service.

A 2006 postal reform law requires the USPS to pre-fund 75 years' worth of future retiree health benefits within just 10 years.                        

No other federal agency or private enterprise is forced to pre-fund similar benefits like this, especially on such an aggressive schedule.

This postal-only mandate costs the USPS $5.5 billion per year. It accounts for 100 percent of the Postal Service’s $20 billion in losses over the past four years.

It also accounts for 100 percent of the rise in the Postal Service’s debt in recent years.

Without the mandate, the USPS would have been profitable over the past four years, and rather than having to use up its $15 billion line of credit from the U.S. Treasury to cover the pre-funding obligation, the Postal Service would have had significant borrowing authority to ride out the bad economy it now faces.

The $47 billion the Postal Service has deposited so far into its retiree health fund over the past four years instead could have been spent on operating costs.

The Postal Service and its employees don’t want a taxpayer bailout. We have not received any taxpayer funds in nearly 30 years.

What we do want is the freedom to use our own surplus pension funds to pay down the pre-funding obligation.

But this can only happen if Congress changes the current law.

A bill has already been co-sponsored by over 200 members of Congress, but needs more support if it is going to pass.   

You can help save america's most trusted Federal agency and thousands of American jobs by signing this petition.

 Tell your congressman/woman you want them to co-sponsor house bill 1351.