- The partial government shutdown is now on day 32.
- While many services are closed during the shutdown, the US Postal Service. uu. it is still fully functional.
- this is because the usps has been self-sufficient since 1982 and receives almost no funding appropriated by congress.
- the shutdown only affects congressional funding that is approved annually, so self-sufficient operations like the postal service are spared.
neither snow nor rain nor heat nor government shutdown can slow down the us postal service as the ongoing fight between president donald trump and the democrats has done nothing to disrupt the flow of mail throughout the country.
In fact, due to the unique structure of the USPS, government shutdowns never affect mail delivery service.
Because the funding lapses that cause closures only apply to annually allocated funding, permanently funded services or services funded through user fees are not affected by the closure. so that self-sustaining programs like the postal service or passport issuance, or permanently funded programs like social security, don’t get caught up in the budget battle.
The USPS generates most of its own funding through operating income of approximately $70 billion earned each year from stamp sales, postage costs and other operations.
“As an ‘independent establishment of the executive branch of the United States government,’ we do not receive tax dollars for ongoing operations and have not received an allocation for operating costs since 1982,” the USPS said in its annual financial report. presentation. “We finance our operations primarily through cash generated from operations and through loans from the Federal Financing Bank (‘FFB’), a government-owned corporation under the general supervision of the Secretary of the Treasury.”
The postal service became fully independent in 1971 and got some funding from Congress until 1982, when the USPS completely cut off taxpayer money.
There are also some technical issues related to how the USPS is treated in the budgeting process, but for the most part the USPS is self-supporting and not subject to congressional funding disputes. And while the service has faced some financial problems in recent years, many of those problems were caused by the USPS’s inability to raise prices to remain competitive with the private sector, not a lack of taxpayer money.
The only consistent allocation given to the USPS by Congress is reimbursement for low-cost postage given to the blind and for overseas absentee ballots.
While the USPS is safe, there are still far-reaching effects from the shutdown as it drags on into a second month. From airports to food programs to 800,000 unpaid federal workers, the shutdown is starting to get real.
- for more government shutdown coverage:
- the warnings are getting clearer: the trump government shutdown is turning catastrophic for the economy
- Trump’s Shutdown Strategy Is a Disaster and Most Americans Disagree
- Here’s What Happens to Food Stamps and Other Federal Food Programs During the Government Shutdown
- Most Americans would rather spend the $5 billion Trump is demanding for the border wall on infrastructure, education or health