A recently released Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) “Post Office Structure Plan” (POStPlan) has failed to achieve the savings first predicted by USPS in 2012. The POStPlan aspired to save money by reducing the retail hours of 13,000 offices (66 percent of all post offices) and staffing them with non-career or part-time employees; the plan offered reassignment or separation incentives of career employees. USPS estimated that this plan would save the agency $500 million annually, but POStPlan savings have only reached $337 million annually.
For USPS Inspector General, Everything’s Always Coming Up Roses
On April 18, 2016 the United States Postal Service (USPS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a report positing a rosy future for the USPS. The report, “Peeling the Onion,” concluded that USPS is “doing better financially than sometimes reported in the press.” Postal IG David Williams seems to view the agency’s prospects through rose-colored glasses, but the fiscal realities contained in its financial statements, congressional oversight and Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports indicate that the agency is running on empty and in need of transformative change.
The Marlboro Man and the Blue Light
The vapor product known as electronic cigarettes, “e-cigs,” first appeared on the market in 2007. Although the e-cig market is still smaller than traditional cigarettes, sales grew by 23 percent in 2014 and are expected to surpass the cigarette market within the next decade.
How to Stop the Death Spiral in Puerto Rico
In late June, 2015, Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla said that the island could not meet its obligations to pay off $72 billion in the combined debt of the territorial government and municipalities. In November 2015, the U.S. Treasury Department agreed that the territory was insolvent. Garcia Padilla then called the situation a “death spiral” during a hearing on December 1, 2015.
RSC Releases Budget Proposal
On March 17, 2016, the House of Representatives’ Republican Study Committee (RSC), chaired by Rep. Flores (R-Texas), released its budget proposal.
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For: USPS Vehicle Procurement
In 1987, U2 released “The Joshua Tree,” which included the popular single, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” A gallon of gas cost 87 cents, Margaret Thatcher was elected Prime Minister for the third time, and “Good Morning, Vietnam” was showing in theatres that year. It was also the last year that the United States Postal Service (USPS) purchased vehicles, which were supposed to “last a lifetime.” However, much like neon-colored suits and shoulder pads in women’s blazers, those vehicles, known as Grumman Long Life Vehicles (LLVs), have outlived their usefulness and their style.
Right to Work and the Friedrichs Case
On January 11, 2015, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association. Rebecca Friedrichs, a schoolteacher in Anaheim, California, brought the case, which addresses two key questions: do public-sector union agreements violate the First Amendment’s protections of freedom of speech and assembly, and does the First Amendment prohibit the practice of requiring public employees to affirmatively opt-out of subsidizing political speech rather than to affirmatively consent?
Auditing the Federal Reserve: Foiled Again!
Overshadowed by the excitement of President Obama’s final State of the Union, the Senate considered a procedural motion on S. 2232, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2015, on January 12, 2016.
State of the Union Observations
On January 12, 2016, President Obama delivered his final State of the Union address. During his address, President Obama cited some of his accomplishments while in office: the millions of people with healthcare, the increase in jobs and decrease in unemployment, and the great investments in renewable energy across the country.
House Sends Obamacare Repeal to the President
Yesterday evening, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 3762, the Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act, by a vote of 240-181.