The U.S. Postal Service runs out of cash within a year unless Congress lifts a decades-old cap and allows the agency to borrow more money, the new postmaster general said. If it not, the Postal Service might not be able to pay its employees or vendors by February 2027, with potentially dire consequences for mail delivery, Postmaster General David Steiner told The Associated Press.
“How long are employees going to work and vendors going to show up if we’re not paying them?” Steiner said.
The postmaster general will testify before Congress later this month about the USPS's financial struggles and the need to change longstanding rules and regulations that he considers burdensome. He singled out the $15 billion cap on borrowing that has been in place since 1990.
The Postal Service is an independent agency, funded mostly through postage revenue and the services it provides. Steiner said it has all the burdens of a government agency, such as having to deliver mail six days a week to every address, but none of the benefits, such as an annual appropriation from the federal budget.
