{"id":25545,"date":"2026-04-09T22:16:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T22:16:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/us-political-news-today-the-usps-is-almost-out-of-money-and-could-shut-down-within-12-months-here-is-what-that-means\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T22:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T22:16:10","slug":"us-political-news-today-the-usps-is-almost-out-of-money-and-could-shut-down-within-12-months-here-is-what-that-means","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/us-political-news-today-the-usps-is-almost-out-of-money-and-could-shut-down-within-12-months-here-is-what-that-means\/","title":{"rendered":"US Political News Today: The USPS Is Almost Out of Money and Could Shut Down Within 12 Months \u2014 Here Is What That Means"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">The USPS crisis reached Congress in mid-March when Postmaster General David Steiner testified before the House Oversight Subcommittee on Government Operations that the agency will run out of cash in less than 12 months at its current rate and may be forced to stop delivering mail.<\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_81ed6f5c28fd43349df45773c10afa6c\" class=\"cn-block-summary\">\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__nav tabs\">\n        <span class=\"tabs__item is-selected\">Summary<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Steiner told lawmakers directly: \u201cAt our current rate, we\u2019ll be out of cash in less than 12 months,\u201d adding that \u201cless than a year from now, the Postal Service will be unable to deliver the mail if we maintain the status quo\u201d; pressed for a specific date, he said USPS could exhaust funds as early as October 2026 if it pays all obligations on schedule, or February 2027 if it continues deferring some payments<\/li>\n<li>USPS lost $9 billion last fiscal year, $9.5 billion in 2024, and $1.3 billion in just the first quarter of 2026; it has posted annual losses almost every year since 2007 as traditional mail volume has fallen by nearly 50 percent over the past 20 years<\/li>\n<li>The agency is asking Congress to increase its borrowing limit with the Treasury Department and to allow higher stamp prices; it is also exploring options including cutting delivery from six days to five or three days per week, closing post offices, and raising first-class stamp prices from the current 78 cents to $1 or more<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<p>Federal News Network <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/federalnewsnetwork.com\/agency-oversight\/2026\/03\/usps-cutting-delivery-days-on-the-table-as-agency-runs-out-of-cash-postmaster-general-tells-lawmakers\/\" target=\"_blank\">reported<\/a> that USPS has since taken one unilateral step to conserve cash: suspending contributions to the Federal Employees Retirement System, a move that could free up to $15 billion by delaying required pension payments through September 2030. The Postal Regulatory Commission granted a waiver allowing the deferral. That buys time but does not fix the structural problem.<\/p>\n<p>USPS does not receive tax dollars for operating expenses. It funds itself through stamps and service fees. As email, texts, and online payments have replaced letters and check-mailing, first-class mail, the agency\u2019s most profitable product, has collapsed in volume. Amazon, USPS\u2019s largest package customer, has announced plans to cut the volume it sends through the agency by as much as two-thirds by September.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">USPS Crisis: What Breaks First If Congress Does Not Act<\/h1>\n<p>The practical consequences of a USPS cash failure extend well beyond mail delivery delays. Approximately 6 percent of diabetes prescriptions in the US are delivered by mail. Roughly 3.7 million Medicare enrollees live in areas where pharmacy access is limited and rely on postal delivery for medications. Rural communities, which are legally entitled to the same delivery service as urban areas under USPS\u2019s universal service obligation, would be disproportionately exposed if service is cut. The Government Accountability Office released a report alongside the Steiner testimony calling the USPS business model \u201cunsustainable\u201d and stating that \u201curgent action\u201d is needed.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Congress Is Being Asked to Do<\/h2>\n<p>Steiner\u2019s ask to Congress has three parts: raise the borrowing limit with the Treasury so USPS can access more capital, allow the agency to set prices more freely by removing the current once-per-year rate increase cap the Postal Regulatory Commission imposed through 2030, and give USPS flexibility on its universal service obligation. Republican committee members pushed back, questioning whether USPS had exhausted all internal cost-cutting options before asking for a bailout. Committee chair Rep. James Comer noted that Congress had already passed the Postal Service Reform Act in 2022, which saved USPS $107 billion in total costs.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Happens to Mail If Nothing Changes<\/h2>\n<p>As crypto.news has reported, the federal legislative calendar in 2026 is under severe pressure from the Iran war, the CLARITY Act negotiations, and midterm positioning; a USPS rescue bill would compete for floor time against all of those priorities. As crypto.news has noted, disruptions to government-dependent services, including postal delivery of financial documents, checks, and regulatory notices, carry spillover effects into markets that rely on physical document flows. Steiner told lawmakers simply: \u201cThe mail will stop\u201d if the agency cannot meet its obligations, including delivery of prescription drug packages.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The USPS crisis reached Congress in mid-March when Postmaster General David Steiner testified before the House Oversight Subcommittee on Government Operations that the agency will run out of cash in&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25545"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25546,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25545\/revisions\/25546"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}