August 25, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 150 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session

[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E792]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          PERSONAL EXPLANATION

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MIKE KELLY

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, August 25, 2020

  Mr. KELLY. Madam Speaker, on Saturday, August 22, 2020, I was 
unavoidably detained away from the House Chamber.
  Had I been present, I would have voted: `Nay' on Roll Call Number 179 
for bill number H. RES. 1092 H.R. 8015 On Ordering the Previous 
Question; `Nay' on Roll Call Number 180 for bill number H. RES. 1092 On 
Agreeing to the Resolution; `Yay' on Roll Call Number 181 for bill 
number H.R. 8015 On Motion to Recommit with Instructions; and `Nay' on 
Roll Call Number 182 for bill number H.R. 8015 ``Delivering for America 
Act'' On Passage.
  For years, the U.S. Postal Service has faced serious financial 
problems that have been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. 
Significant reforms are needed at USPS to put it on a sustainable path. 
Already this year, Congress has given USPS additional access to $10 
billion worth of funding to cover operating expenses of which the Post 
Office has yet to use. Simply delivering another $25 billion--at 
substantial taxpayer cost--without operational changes is bad policy. 
Congress must stem the Postal Service's recurrent losses, which have 
totaled $83.1 billion since 2006, and reduce its unfunded pension and 
healthcare liabilities, which total more than $120 billion. Another 
government bailout for an agency that has a long history of fiscal 
mismanagement is not the right answer. The systemic challenges of USPS 
pose no threat to the November presidential election, however. The 
Postmaster General has assured Americans that ``the Postal Service is 
ready today to handle whatever volume of election mail it receives this 
fall.'' There is no obstacle to state Secretaries of State from sending 
ballots to voters who request them with enough time for them to be 
returned and counted. Rather than playing political games, we should 
work together to achieve what we all want, which is to count every vote 
and build a Postal Service that works for the 21st century.

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