[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 487-488]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              TRIBUTE TO THE HONORABLE PATRICK R. DONAHOE

  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the 73rd Postmaster 
General of the United States, Patrick ``Pat'' R. Donahoe, upon his 
retirement, for his leadership, vision and commitment to the U.S. 
Postal Service, and for his service to our Nation. During his 39-year 
career, Pat ascended the ranks of the Postal Service and went on to 
help lead the 239-year-old agency during one of its most challenging 
periods.
  Pat's career with the agency began in 1975, when he started as 
trainee on a mail-sorting machine in his native Pittsburgh. In 1976 he 
was hired as a clerk at the same location, and from there he moved up 
the ranks and went on to hold several leadership positions. Over the 
years, he has served as Vice President of Allegheny Operations, Senior 
Vice President of Human Resources, Senior Vice President of Operations, 
Chief Operating Officer, and Deputy Postmaster General.
  In his role as Chief Operating Officer, he helped the Postal Service 
navigate back-to-back tragedies and challenges to mail operations 
following the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the use of the mail to 
transmit anthrax. He also played a key role in the recovery efforts 
following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.
  Before he worked his way up the Postal Service's ranks, Pat graduated

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from the University of Pittsburgh with a bachelor of science in 
economics. During his time with the Postal Service, he earned his 
master of science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan 
School of Management as a Sloan fellow.
  In October 2010, Pat was appointed by his colleagues on the Postal 
Service Board of Governors to be the Nation's 73rd Postmaster General, 
PMG. At the time, the outlook for the Postal Service was bleak and its 
future uncertain. It was hemorrhaging billions of dollars and saw its 
workforce numbers slashed as it grappled with the rapid transition to 
electronic communication and the fallout from the great recession in 
2009. It was teetering on the edge of collapse, and no one knew how 
long the Postal Service could hold on. But Pat Donahoe accepted the 
challenge.
  During his 4-year tenure as Postmaster General, Pat proved himself to 
be a dedicated public servant, a strong leader, and an innovative chief 
executive with the willingness to make tough calls and hard decisions. 
He did what was necessary to help the Postal Service keep its lights on 
and compete in the age of the Internet. He did a remarkable job using 
limited resources to keep the Postal Service alive during the second 
worst financial crisis in its history. With the help of a strong team 
at Postal Service headquarters and in postal facilities across the 
country, he sought to keep prices competitive, reduced costs, 
rightsized the enterprise, and explored a number of innovative and 
successful business endeavors. His efforts have helped guide the 
centuries-old agency through a remarkable transition that has better 
prepared it to compete and remain a linchpin of our economy in the 
digital age. In fact, his work and his vision have put the Postal 
Service in a position where, with the right tools and authorities from 
Congress, it can remain competitive and viable for generations to come.
  Pat Donahoe had a vision for what the Postal Service could become and 
never stopped working to build on its potential. During his tenure, the 
Postmaster General helped bring the Postal Service to a place where it 
could better meet the demands of the 21st-century customers it serves. 
He reimaged tried-and-true services to make them more user-friendly and 
more valuable, like flat-rate shipping and priority mail. He created 
more opportunities to innovate and grow using the Postal Service's 
unique distribution network by adding services like Sunday package 
delivery and by exploring innovative partnerships with companies such 
as Amazon, FedEx, and UPS.
  As someone who has watched the Postal Service both soar and struggle, 
Pat provided guidance and leadership during tremendously challenging 
times. Despite the significant financial and legislative restraints 
that face the Postal Service today, the Postmaster General kept the 
Postal Service on a course that would enable it to deliver on the high 
expectations set by the American public.
  The PMG has also been a strong voice for the agency and an important 
partner to Congress during our efforts to pass comprehensive postal 
reform in the 112th and 113th Congress. He has worked tirelessly on 
behalf of the Postal Service's customers, employees, stakeholders, and 
the 7 to 8 million people whose jobs depend on a healthy and robust 
Postal Service.
  As I worked with my former partner on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs Committee, Dr. Tom Coburn from Oklahoma, in 
developing comprehensive postal reform legislation, Pat and his staff 
were indispensable. We could always rely on the PMG and his team to 
come with little notice to a meeting in the Capitol or to join a late-
night or weekend conference call.
  As he would probably admit, Pat also took plenty of abuse from some 
of my colleagues here in Congress, from the press, and from the public. 
He knew that some of the initiatives he put into place during his 
tenure as Postmaster General would be unpopular but stuck to his guns 
because he thought it was the right thing to do. Even in recent days, 
he has continued to press for what he knows is right and what he knows 
will sustain the Postal Service in the years to come.
  Pat Donahoe has graciously shared decades of his life with the Postal 
Service and has served the American people well. I sincerely thank him 
for his dedication, and I deeply appreciate his tireless efforts to 
help the Postal Service and our country. While Pat is retiring from the 
Postal Service, his legacy will carry on, and the changes he made will 
continue to serve the Postal Service and its customers. I wish Pat, his 
wife Janet, their two sons, and their granddaughters Charlotte and Lucy 
all the best in the years to come. As we say in the Navy when people 
complete an especially difficult assignment and sail off into the 
sunrise, ``Fair winds and following seas.''

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