WASHINGTON – Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management which oversees the U.S. Postal Service, issued the following statement regarding the official swearing in of Patrick R. Donahoe as the 73rd Postmaster General of the United States and the CEO of the U.S. Postal Service:

“I’d like to offer my congratulations to Patrick R. Donahoe on taking the oath of office today to become the 73rd U.S. Postmaster General. I look forward to working with Postmaster General Donahoe to reform the U.S. Postal Service and put it on more solid financial footing. I am hopeful that under his leadership, the Postal Service will be able to meet and overcome the significant financial challenges it currently faces so it can continue to provide valuable services to the American people.”

Sen. Carper has been a leader in Congress on the effort to reform and modernize the U.S. Postal Service. As Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, he has held several hearings over the last year exploring the financial challenges facing the Postal Service as well as the ways to best address them.

On Sept. 23, 2010, Sen. Carper introduced comprehensive postal reform legislation, the Postal Operations Sustainment and Transformation (POST) Act of 2010. The POST Act sought to address the financial problems plaguing the Postal Service by proposing a comprehensive set of reforms including: easing postal employee pension and retiree health costs; addressing postal employee wages and benefits; allowing partnerships with state and local governments and giving the Postal Service leeway to close post offices, market certain non-postal items and eliminate Saturday delivery.