[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 194 (Thursday, December 7, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2315]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       WAIT A MINUTE, MR. POSTMAN

                                 ______


                      HON. RODNEY P. FRELINGHUYSEN

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, December 7, 1995

  Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Mr. Speaker, today I introduced the Postal Service 
Debt Reduction and Truth in Budgeting Act, which will commit the Postal 
Service to a 7-year-debt reduction plan.
  Mr. Speaker, for far too long, Congress and the American people have 
been kept in the dark regarding the finances of the U.S. Postal 
Service. Very few Americans know that the Postal Service is servicing a 
debt of more than $7 billion. What they do know is that their mail is 
not delivered on time and that the cost of a first class stamp jumped 
by 3 cents last year. This situation needs to be changed.
  Even before I was elected to Congress, I was critical of the Postal 
Service's lack of budgetary integrity and its overall service. Their 
unwillingness to tackle their multibillion dollar debt has convinced me 
that real, fundamental reform is needed.
  Since last year, Postmaster General Runyon has taken some encouraging 
steps toward fiscal responsibility. Much to everyone's surprise, the 
Postal Service ran a surplus this year of $1.8 billion; only the 
seventh time in 25 years it has managed to operate in the black. 
However, the Postal Service still lacks a serious plan that holds it 
fiscally accountable to Congress and our Nation's taxpayers.
  Despite their $7.3 billion debt and the rare opportunity to reduce it 
with their $1.8 billion surplus, Postmaster General Runyon, recently 
gave bonuses to 1,000 senior postal executives for a year when 
customers faced a 10 percent hike in the price of a first class stamp. 
It is these actions that require me to introduce this bill.
  Mr. Runyon seems to be doing little more than introducing short-term 
gimmicks and rate hikes to absorb the escalating costs of running an 
increasingly inefficient monopoly. The Postal Service is utilizing a 
good portion of its administrative, labor and capital resources on 
projects that have nothing to do with the agency's primary 
responsibility: delivering the mail on time. Recently, the Postal 
Service announced that it was entering into a joint venture with a 
private company to offer prepaid telephone calling cards, a service 
already provided by the private sector. Mr. Runyon should have the 
agency concentrating on delivering the mail.
  The legislation I am introducing will require the Postmaster General 
to follow a fiscally responsible course that the American people have 
demanded from their Government led by the 104th Congress. Specifically, 
it would require the Postmaster General to submit a 7-year plan to put 
the Postal Service's fiscal house in order. It would also require an 
annual, in-depth accounting of its budget to show which postal programs 
and practices are working and which ones need to be reformed or 
eliminated.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to cosponsor the Postal 
Service Debt Reduction and Truth in Budgeting Act. Let us include the 
U.S. Postal Service in our efforts to create a smaller, smarter 
Government that is accountable to the American taxpayers.

                          ____________________