WASHINGTON — Mail volume has dropped dramatically since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA). Letter carriers are still going door to door and delivering mail across America, but when volume drops, revenue drops as well.
Rep. Connolly is sharing his concerns with WUSA9 about the 650,000 U.S. Postal Service employees across the country.
"The Postal Service is going to run out of all cash by June," said Rep. Connolly. "Trump personally objected to any assistance for the Postal Service."
The $2 trillion dollar stimulus plan signed by the President gives USPS the ability to borrow $10 billion from the U.S. Treasury.
Rep. Connolly says the initial version of the bill included $25 billion for the cash strapped agency.
Connolly and House Oversight and Reform Committee Chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) wrote a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell earlier in the week calling the Postal Service's financial crisis “a national emergency” that would hit rural areas extremely hard.
WUSA9 asked Rep. Connolly if he believed the Trump Administration is deliberately allowing the Postal Service to fail.
"I don't know that it's a strategy, but I think they would not be bothered by the collapse of the Postal Service," Rep. Connolly said.
The Trump Administration has in the past signaled its desire to privatize the Postal Service. Late Friday, the USPS issued a statement saying it “remained concerned this measure will be insufficient to enable the Postal Service to withstand the significant downturn in our business that could directly result from the pandemic.”
Read the entire USPS statement here.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment on this story.