“The Postal Service still seems to hold the misguided belief that accounting gimmicks and an increased reliance on taxpayer support will give it flexibility to push back insolvency for a few more years.”-Darrel Issa, Republican Representative from California

California Republican Darrel Issa has just revealed himself to be a liar or an idiot!

First off: Postal officials have been straight forward with their financial mess.  And most of that mess has been caused by Congress!!!  Read my September posting of the PBS interview with the Postmaster General, and the president of the National Association of Letter Carriers union.

Secondly: The United States Postal Service does not make money off taxpayers, they are solely funded by the postage they charge (prices are controlled by U.S. Congress, not the USPS), and other products they sell.  The cuts being made to the USPS will have no affect on U.S. government debt!!!

Darrel Issa is a California Republican, yet he doesn’t know that two other California Republicans pushed for the USPS to become self supporting?  Yeah, those guys were Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan!!!

In 1970, under Nixon the Postal Reorganization Act was passed and signed into law.  This act ceased tax payer funding for the USPS (prior to the Reorganization Act it was known as the Postal Department), and forced it to become self supporting (although it does not have to make a profit).

In 1982, under Reagan, another act was passed and signed that added U.S. postage stamps to the “postal products” that the USPS could support itself with (until then the Government took all the money from sales of stamps).

Perhaps Darrel Issa is talking about the “Postal Service Fund”?  This is a fund set up by Congress, paid for with taxes, to cover the postage free mailing for all legally blind persons, and for mail in election ballots sent from U.S. citizens living overseas, and, for providing address information to state and local child support enforcement agencies.  It does not cover any other operations of the USPS!

Perhaps Darrel Issa wants to end the free mailings for blind people, for absentee election ballots, and for providing addresses to state and local child support agencies?

Whatever the reason, this is a clear case of politicians, and the media, of being incompetent, or intentionally misleading the general public.