Resolution 200398

..Title Urging the U.S. Congress to appropriate funds to sustain the U.S. Postal Service, and to ensure the Postal Service continues to function as a universal public service. ..Body WHEREAS, The Postal Service is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution "to bind the country together through the correspondence of the people"; and WHEREAS, The COVID-19 public health crisis, and our nation's current economic distress, has caused a 30 percent decrease in mail volume, with an expected 50 percent drop by Summer 2020. The Postmaster General predicts that the USPS will run out of money as soon as September 2020; and WHEREAS, The Postal Service is indispensable to the American people, especially veterans, seniors, small businesses, and those in rural areas, delivering medications (nearly 4 million daily), stimulus checks, census forms, ballots, medical supplies, including test kits and the impending COVID-19 vaccine; and WHEREAS, The Postal Service guarantees universal delivery at a fixed cost to everyone, ensuring affordable and equitable communication and delivery as a basic right; and WHEREAS, The Postal Service is one of the most integrated employers in the United States, providing family sustaining jobs, especially to Black workers; and WHEREAS, In light of the Black Lives Matter movement, it is essential to preserve such stable and life-sustaining jobs; and WHEREAS, The Postal Service provides equitable wages and benefits to all workers regardless of race or gender; and WHEREAS, The Postal Board of Governors, the Service's bi-partisan governing body, has called on Congress to appropriate $25 billion immediately, and to allocate sufficient additional funds in the future, to sustain the service; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Urges the U.S. Congress to appropriate funds to sustain the U.S. Postal Service, and to ensure the Postal Service continues to function as a universal public service. ..End