OPINION:
I am disgusted with Congress and the recent decision made by Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to take money from two federal-employee retirement funds to balance the budget.
The U.S. Postal Service has, on different occasions, pleaded with officials to get back the money it had overpaid to the Federal Employees Retirement System based on the office of the inspector general’s findings. It was told there wasn’t any legislation allowing for such a thing. Yet Treasury is allowed to raid these same funds whenever it feels like it?
The Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund is bankrupting USPS. It is currently sitting at roughly $46 billion reserved for future retirees, or so we thought. The USPS puts roughly $5 billion into this fund every year, which it must do by law. Now Treasury just wants to step in and take it, which amounts to robbery.
I’m perplexed as to how the U.S. government can justify stealing money from both retirement accounts while the USPS, a private entity of the federal government, is on the verge of bankruptcy. The USPS is running out of options to remain a viable business. It continues to close rural post offices, city offices and processing plants, as well as change delivery standards, yet Congress has no problem undermining all its efforts. To add insult to injury, the president has lifted the pay freeze on federal workers. The House and Senate as well as the president and vice president will benefit from this executive order and receive pay increases.
I’m on the verge of losing my job because the House and Senate can’t or won’t come together on a decision to save the USPS. It’s a slap in the face to every American paying taxes, watching the cost of living climb and barely getting by.
THOMAS R. BENSON
Roaming Shores, Ohio
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