OPINION: We can’t let Trump destroy our postal service

By FRANK CLEMENTE
Executive Director
Americans for Tax Fairness

Donald Trump has exploited this pandemic to implement a laundry list of right-wing policies including a new tax loophole that gave a massive $135 billion tax break to wealthy business owners in the $2 trillion COVID-19 financial aid law.

And even as Trump claims he wants to get the economy going again, he’s standing in the way of protecting a critical support for U.S. businesses and families: the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).

The U.S. Postmaster General has indicated that the USPS could run out of money this summer. And the Washington Post reports that, “President Trump has blocked potential emergency funding for the agency that employs around 600,000 workers.”

BILLIONS FOR BILLIONAIRES
So, while Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell are happy to hand $135 billion in tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires, they continue to stand in the way of protections for those at the frontline of the pandemic including essential workers, state and local governments and the USPS!

Sign the petition to Congress! Instead of tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, it’s critical that Congress use the next round of COVID-19 legislation to keep the U.S. Postal Service running through and beyond the pandemic (actionnetwork.org/forms/tell-congress-during-this-pandemic-support-our-public-postal-service).

RESCUE THE POSTAL SERVICE
The USPS is asking for $25 billion in aid to stay afloat, which Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump have flat out rejected. Instead, they’re happy to continue to funnel money to those at the top.

The major COVID-19 rescue package from a few weeks ago handed an outrageous $135 billion in tax cuts (that must be repealed!) to the richest business owners. That’s three times more than the $42 billion for safety net programs, more than the $100 billion provided to hospitals, and almost as much as the $150 billion in aid provided to state and local governments on the frontlines of this crisis.

From the beginning of the pandemic, postal workers have indicated that they’re working without the needed protective equipment to keep themselves healthy, even while 19 have died and thousands more are self-quarantining because of exposure.

In the midst of a pandemic when we rely on the Postal Service to deliver everything from prescription medication to our $1,200 Economic Impact Payment stimulus checks, we can’t allow Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell to run the USPS into the ground.