Postmaster General John Potter asked Congress today for an immediate $2 billion bailout of the deficit-ridden U.S. Postal Service to cover revenues lost as a result of September 11th’s tragic events.
Testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Potter said the USPS would need another $3 billion to clean up anthrax spores at various postal facilities across the country, buy mail-sanitizing equipment and finance other preventive measures.
The combination of those two events, he told the panel, chaired by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) “resulted in costs and business impacts that simply could not have been anticipated” by the USPS, the federal government and the business community, including mailers.
Potter, pleading with the panel to endorse the bailout said it was “required as part of the effort in defending homeland security.”
Dorgan, opening the hearing, said the USPS “has become yet another front in this country’s new war against terrorism.” He went on to say that the discovery of anthrax-laced mail was a “new threat to our homeland [and] has the potential to reach into every household and undermine our collective belief in the security of mail.”
There were strong indications that the panel would recommend full Senate approval of the request.
Network
