To the editor:

In 2006, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act was introduced and voted for and passed by the Republican House, then stupidly passed by the Democratic Senate, then signed by “W.” The bill required the USPS over a 10-year period to bank a fund to prepay pensions 75 years into the future. This bill put the USPS into a no-profit position, which caused a deficit of $62.5 billion. $58.5 of that money were funds put into the retirement fund. This was too high of a cost for such a short period.

Since the CV19 pandemic, due to no fault of their own, the USPS is further in debt. Other factors include Fedex, UPS, Amazon, DHL. Are they taxed properly? The USPS is not funded by the government. And they have been forbidden to raise rates. $800 million was also taken from the USPS funds to help pay for the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Politicians have taken a profitable civil service with 400,00-plus dedicated employees, many of whom have been infected with CV19, and put it into debt.

Now the man occupying the White House is attacking it and putting a know-nothing sycophant lobbyist Louis DeJoy in charge of the USPS. Now orders are to cut over-time and if the regular delivery person is sick, they are not assigning anyone to deliver the mail to our citizens. The mail has to wait until he/she returns from their day off. Or eventually temporarily replace the regular. If we have voting by mail, can we say voter suppression? The latest HEROES Act included $25 billion to help the USPS stay solvent. Trump said no. Trump’s targets are USPS, ACA, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, and anyone that disagrees with him.

This info was accessed through politifact.com. Time to call your representatives and senators and challenge them for the truth.

Joe West

Covington