What to know about USPS’s dire financial state ahead of oversight hearing
This is performative politics again.
Postmaster General David Steiner will testify before the House for the first time on Tuesday to ask Congress for regulatory relief to keep the United States Postal Service afloat as it navigates dire financial straits.
Per his written testimony before the House Oversight Subcommittee on Government Operations obtained by the Washington Examiner, Steiner will seek to raise the $15 billion borrowing cap that Congress instated in 1992. The USPS head will also testify that he is looking to increase the price of stamps and restructure how the service funds its pensions and retirement liabilities.
Steiner’s appearance before Congress comes as he has been warning that the service will run out of money by the end of 2026 if it does not receive regulatory reforms and financial help from Congress.
Here’s what to know ahead of the hearing on the financial future of the postal service.
What is the current financial state of the Postal Service?
USPS has lost money as an entity nearly every year since 2007, bleeding about $109 billion in that 17-year period, according to a December 2025 Government Accountability Office report.
Since the service became a semi-independent government corporation after former President Richard Nixon signed the Postal Reorganization Act in 1970, USPS has operated on its own revenue, without taxpayer funding. USPS makes money from the sale of products such as stamps and shipping labels, as well as from services such as last-mile delivery and P.O. Box rentals.
USPS’s revenue system has largely allowed it to break even with its operating expenses and controllable costs. However, the service runs into debt largely when it comes to its retirement liabilities.
“The main problem in terms of the debt has always been – at least for the last 15-or-so years – how they have to pay off their liabilities associated with the pensions and the retiree health funds,” Save the Post Office advocate Steve Hutkins told the Washington Examiner.
After nearly two decades of operating at a loss and periodically raising the price of stamps, USPS is calling for action from Congress.
Steiner will tell the subcommittee that the “drastic reduction in the use of mail,” from the peak of 213 billion pieces sent in 2006 to 109 billion pieces sent in the past year, is what has led the postal service to its current crisis.
“In the time since peak 2006 mail volume, the Postal Service was thrown overboard and instead of tossing us a life jacket, we were thrown an …
This is performative politics again.
Postmaster General David Steiner will testify before the House for the first time on Tuesday to ask Congress for regulatory relief to keep the United States Postal Service afloat as it navigates dire financial straits.
Per his written testimony before the House Oversight Subcommittee on Government Operations obtained by the Washington Examiner, Steiner will seek to raise the $15 billion borrowing cap that Congress instated in 1992. The USPS head will also testify that he is looking to increase the price of stamps and restructure how the service funds its pensions and retirement liabilities.
Steiner’s appearance before Congress comes as he has been warning that the service will run out of money by the end of 2026 if it does not receive regulatory reforms and financial help from Congress.
Here’s what to know ahead of the hearing on the financial future of the postal service.
What is the current financial state of the Postal Service?
USPS has lost money as an entity nearly every year since 2007, bleeding about $109 billion in that 17-year period, according to a December 2025 Government Accountability Office report.
Since the service became a semi-independent government corporation after former President Richard Nixon signed the Postal Reorganization Act in 1970, USPS has operated on its own revenue, without taxpayer funding. USPS makes money from the sale of products such as stamps and shipping labels, as well as from services such as last-mile delivery and P.O. Box rentals.
USPS’s revenue system has largely allowed it to break even with its operating expenses and controllable costs. However, the service runs into debt largely when it comes to its retirement liabilities.
“The main problem in terms of the debt has always been – at least for the last 15-or-so years – how they have to pay off their liabilities associated with the pensions and the retiree health funds,” Save the Post Office advocate Steve Hutkins told the Washington Examiner.
After nearly two decades of operating at a loss and periodically raising the price of stamps, USPS is calling for action from Congress.
Steiner will tell the subcommittee that the “drastic reduction in the use of mail,” from the peak of 213 billion pieces sent in 2006 to 109 billion pieces sent in the past year, is what has led the postal service to its current crisis.
“In the time since peak 2006 mail volume, the Postal Service was thrown overboard and instead of tossing us a life jacket, we were thrown an …
What to know about USPS’s dire financial state ahead of oversight hearing
This is performative politics again.
Postmaster General David Steiner will testify before the House for the first time on Tuesday to ask Congress for regulatory relief to keep the United States Postal Service afloat as it navigates dire financial straits.
Per his written testimony before the House Oversight Subcommittee on Government Operations obtained by the Washington Examiner, Steiner will seek to raise the $15 billion borrowing cap that Congress instated in 1992. The USPS head will also testify that he is looking to increase the price of stamps and restructure how the service funds its pensions and retirement liabilities.
Steiner’s appearance before Congress comes as he has been warning that the service will run out of money by the end of 2026 if it does not receive regulatory reforms and financial help from Congress.
Here’s what to know ahead of the hearing on the financial future of the postal service.
What is the current financial state of the Postal Service?
USPS has lost money as an entity nearly every year since 2007, bleeding about $109 billion in that 17-year period, according to a December 2025 Government Accountability Office report.
Since the service became a semi-independent government corporation after former President Richard Nixon signed the Postal Reorganization Act in 1970, USPS has operated on its own revenue, without taxpayer funding. USPS makes money from the sale of products such as stamps and shipping labels, as well as from services such as last-mile delivery and P.O. Box rentals.
USPS’s revenue system has largely allowed it to break even with its operating expenses and controllable costs. However, the service runs into debt largely when it comes to its retirement liabilities.
“The main problem in terms of the debt has always been – at least for the last 15-or-so years – how they have to pay off their liabilities associated with the pensions and the retiree health funds,” Save the Post Office advocate Steve Hutkins told the Washington Examiner.
After nearly two decades of operating at a loss and periodically raising the price of stamps, USPS is calling for action from Congress.
Steiner will tell the subcommittee that the “drastic reduction in the use of mail,” from the peak of 213 billion pieces sent in 2006 to 109 billion pieces sent in the past year, is what has led the postal service to its current crisis.
“In the time since peak 2006 mail volume, the Postal Service was thrown overboard and instead of tossing us a life jacket, we were thrown an …
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