A second postal worker has died of COVID-19, and the United States Postal Service itself remains in danger from the pandemic. Anthony Smith, a Detroit mail handler who had spent 30 years at the postal service and 12 years in the Army, became the first mail handler and second USPS worker known to have been killed by the virus, after New York City letter carrier Rakkhon Kim.
While postal workers are on the job every day as essential workers, Congress has still not acted to ensure the future of the USPS, which has warned that it could run out of money to operate by June due to mail volume falling dramatically.
House Democrats tried to include $25 billion for the USPS in the coronavirus stimulus, but while the provision passed the House, it was removed from the final version of the bill passed by both chambers of Congress and signed by Donald Trump. Instead, the agency got the ability to borrow an additional $10 billion.
A Chicago Sun-Times editorial argues that Congress needs to pass another “more comprehensive relief bill,” and that it “should include billions for the U.S. Postal Service and commit to reworking certain requirements that have financially hamstrung the agency.”
Absolutely that. And it should go hand in hand with provisions for expanding vote-by-mail across the country in time for November, to make it possible for people to vote without endangering their health. Our democracy itself requires a strong postal service during this pandemic.
Sign the petition to Congress: Save the U.S. Postal Service. Seriously.