Congressman Darrell Issa on MSNBC Morning Joe Show
Issa: certainly i think that some of the efforts to try to do what we didn’t do in the stimulus, which is to deal with some of our crumbling infrastructure, needs to be looked at seriously. i think on a bigger note, government needs to realize it’s been part of the problem. as you said, i’m concerned about the post office. it’s going to lose $10 billion. a lot of think tanks are saying, okay, we’ll just do a bailout. we’ll just fudge the figures. and we can’t really keep doing that. this is an organization that can be profitable, that can meet all of its responsibilities, but it’s going to right size its workforce if it’s going to do it. we’re not talking about pay cuts, but we are talking about people being retired that are no longer needed because you and i are e-mailing far more than paper mailing.
Joe: so how many people are you going to push out and what impact is that going to have for me to be able to mail a letter to anybody i want to mail a letter to in america?
Issa: well, universal service is part of the mandate, and we think that’s extremely important, that it be maintained. but there are over 140, 150,000 postal workers who are fully eligible for retirement. you add those who will retire over the next several years, you can get the 200,000 or so off the payroll without having to do punitive measures. more importantly, we have a responsibility. the post office, joe, since you were here, has a mandate to be self-sufficient in all senses. including it has to pay into its own retirement, something that they’d like to redo the figures, but the fact is you and i both know that if you redo it with a federal backstop, you and i will be paying for it the way we paid for so many others, including railroad retirement and so on.
>> pulitzer prize winner john meachem has a question.
>> congressman, i suspect there’s an argument among some folks about just privatize the whole thing. is that part of the conversation at all?
>> well, the post office already is a gse, so to speak, a government sponsored enterprise, but it’s one that has a mandate that says be self-sufficient, meet your own responsibilities, and we’ll let you have different formulas than the rest of the government. they have a different formula for their health care and so on. the important thing, though, is they have gone the wrong way. they have gone from having no debt to $15.5 billion in debt. that tells us as a businessman that no matter what they say, they have more than a small cash flow problem. they have declining revenues and they haven’t rationalized the hard and soft assets. hard assets being, obviously, post offices. but the soft assets, which is 80% of their costs, are human beings. if you’ve got too many human beings, you’ll build in inefficiency, you’ll use labor poorly and that’s what’s been happening and it’s why we have to get this right. it’s why the postmaster is asking for various authorities, including one that would allow him to let people go if he closes a post office. we think that the more proactive thing to do is to find ways to encourage people to retire who are well past retirement age and fully vested.
>> is to some extent the postal service unions the new teachers unions?
>> well, the postal service unions are diverse. look at the rural letter carriers, they already have a contract. basically is volume goes down, they lose people. they have a whole process of, if you will, piecework, while some of the other unions have no layoff, no reductions and volume has been shrinking. so i think you have to deal with those individually. and that’s for the postmaster to do. what we’re looking at doing is giving the authority with a mandate to get to break even or a profit to the postmaster and his governing board. that’s what our bill does. it’s why we want ours rather than a bailout. it’s why most of the major newspapers that have yet spoken have spoken in favor of this bill, because it actually gets the post office back on the right track without any real loss of service. the service you expect, whether you’re in new york city or on an island far in the north of alaska.
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Kudo’s to all. Issa has been arrested on felony charges and is nothing but a bum in a suit. Strange that the interview didn’t get around to the pre-funding that caused the PS to go from no debt to 15 Bil. By the way did Issa explain how the fed went from surplus to huge deficit? Donbe silly.
Any lawyers out there willing to take a class lawsuit against any elected official who is advocating breach of contract, age discrimination and deceptive conduct to create a system failure to force an institutional failure to cause change that is avoidable?.Gentlemen in office I urge you to follow the rules that you are elected to govern and protect as an employee of the people who voted you in as their public servant. I think this could be proven as a criminal act with personal liabilities attached. What you are trying to do is so obvious, that you would be idiots to go done that path. I urge any attorney interested in organizing postal employees to stand ready to sue these officials on a personal level to act quickly. It will be very easy to prove intent,since there are very plauseable options that are being kept off the table to create a default.The O.I.G report alone is circumstantial evidence, of a gross overpayment of postal funding to its pension fund. Changing csrs federal pension to another system or changing its guidlines would be a criminal act to defraud its pensioneers out of a system that is solvent and overfunded by the very institution its trying to eject. I also urge the deceptive law officials to take a math class.This is not rocket science to add 3 to 5 years of service time to incentivate senior employees to consider retirement.There is no upfront money needed to do this and you save within 6 months ,the lifetime payout to these individuals. Now lets once again talk about criminal deception on the part of our so called honest officials. Why are new employees being hired when we are trying to get rid of 200,000 employees. Its called intent to defraud postal employees out of a job. CRIMINAL INTENT!
Mr. Issa , why dont you retire? The way you politicians have messed up this economy who can afford to give up a job that provides for ones self. I have 35 yrs in. Max me out and give me 50.000 grand and I will go. This is a drop in the bucket compared to what you congressmen steal yearly.
save the postal service by taking the postmasters salary – $800,000 !!!!!!! Does he really need to earn that much? The postal service is to top heavy. Get rid of the lazy dumb management. They do nothing but stand around and drink coffee and go out to smoke and have no idea about getting the mail out, the workers can do it on a whole don’t get me wrong we have our slackers but top heavy management has to go . People come into the postal service have never handled mail except from there mailbox at home and want to dictate how to get the job done. And now PSE’s come into the postal service with an attitude. WOW!! There is no future to the postal service. Day by day it’s getting worse.
HAS ANYONE THOUGHT ABOUT RAISING THE BULK MAIL RATES, WAY TO LOW, YOU WOULD MAKE PLENTY OF MONEY IF YOU CONSIDERED THAT. THEY HAVE TO REALIZE THAT IT IS THERE TIME TO HAVE AN INCREASE. AND MAKE THEM PROCESSES THE MAIL THROUGH US, WE CAN IMPLEMENT A NEW SORT PLAN PER COMPANY.
I’m reading all the comments and I can’t help but laugh.Issa is such an a-hole, why does everyone even dignify anything he says or does by submitting a comment?
give me 35’000.00 plus additional years of service and i am out a!s!a!p!!!!
I still don’t get it… How can they talk about cutting jobs while at the same time they are, hiring?! On usps.com under the careers tab, they are hiring! The nerve…
we shouldnt be forced out… 31 years of dedication , no weekends off, split days, weird hours…. should get something…, mr izza??
give us 6 years, and $30 k…. and alot of us will go…. that is fair.
Sounds like a bad case of age discrimination to me !!!
I would like to hear what he means by “fully eligible”. 30 years or more? Mandatory retirement? No penalty for early withdrawing on our TSP?
Get rid of the useless pos at HQ and 90% of useless was and you wouldn’t have to get rid of any of the WORKING people. Like most government bodies, there are way too many chiefs.
THis is a lot of people to send into retirement. I would love to hear some reactions from postal service workers themselves on this matter.
The media should be interviewing worker, young and old, to understand their thoughts.
If people retire from the USPS can they wok somewhere else without their benefits being stripped?
I’ve been at the post office since 1973. I’ll tell ya what Mr. Issa, when congress imposes term limits on itself -I’ll retire.
so , mr issa, how exactly do you think you will “force” people to retire? that sounds very close to harassment. “forcing” people to retire??? wasnt there some law against that?? maybe all the seniors working at Mickey D’s because they cant make ends meet on the Social Security should be forced into retirement also. what an a-hole you are. so out of touch with the middle class.
How about we push out all the old farts in Congress and the Senate!
Vote Issa’s sorry azz out!
WHERE’S MY CAR????
I do not understand where he is getting his “eligible” numbers from. My understanding is that about 14% of the 650k employees are CSRS which would equate to 91k. FERS was established in 1983 which means anyone in that plan has 28 years or less retirement time. The CSRS group has 28 years or more. When they say “eligible” are they talking about a VERA? According to the inflated annual statement the PO sends everyone we make around $110k a year with all of the emplyer contributions etc. Seems to me as others have mentioned, do the math, save your employer contributions now by buying us out and hiring poor new souls that are hungry. I am CSRS, 53 years old and have 35 years service now, but, like the rest of the world I can’t afford to go yet either. Maybe a lump sum to take my house payment away by paying it off?
Really Mr Issa?!I personaly only know a few fully vested employees out of 3000,most are in the 50 to 54 range with 30 to 36 years service tops!And they are not going anywhere soon unless you offer a VER with an incentive of at least $20,000.00 and that is no give me either,maybe a one time shot at 5 years and $25,000.00 will do it!You are the big shot talking about what needs to be done so put your money where your mouth is,make the deal authorize OPM and get the ball rolling or else get out of the way and let those who are willing do it!No one is leaving and nothing is going to happen without a Ver,$25,000 and some time!
Issa, please tell us if you want Congress to be forced out because after eight (8) years you are eligible to collect retirement benefits if you are at the retirement age. So let’s see you post a list of all members of Congress who are retirement eligible and force them out. When that is accomplished, I will be more than willing to retire. But until then, Issa, KMA.
Even they say you will not be penalize if you have the minimum age requirement,you can’t collect til you reach the collecting age,so why retirement when you are FERS!!!!!!!
they all rather be lay off and join the unemployment than can’t collect. Collecting unemployment better than can’t collect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Issa is spending more money putting up web sites to slam the Post Office than the Post Office has ever gotten. He is a liar, and should be voted out of office ASAP.
You really can’t retire if you can and will lose 65% of your base salary and after expenses for health and taxes, you can’t live w/o looking for another job and there is none around!!!!!!
i have 28 years in the postal service i only have 200 hours of sick becase i have appoimment in the veteran every week and y have 61 years with 6 month y retire whit the social security and with fers every employe khow that this retire is misery thast is why we have stay working but managent and the unio work together for the best of the employe they can paid the sick leave in cash to or the employe
Who? Me?
The whole bunch is telling so many lies about everything that no working man has the time to spend to refute them all. However, some of the media is beginning to listen. Issa knows he is lying…. but he needs to take his banana and beat on a different anvil because some are wising up to his deceit. Hey Issa….you will be gone before the Post Office is!
Issa is an Assa! Sadly, DonaHOe is a bigger one. Anyone waiting for 42 years either does not have a productive job or is a fool. Get out before you get sick or die there. At least 5000 offices can be closed with service increases. The no layoff clauses are obsolete. The PO only pre-funds as a tax and income to the Treasury which should, but never will be, eliminated.
Very easy to get those eligible for “immediate retirement”. Just go to a “high 5” versus the current “high 3” years of salary. You would see droves of these retirees out the door.
Hey Issa if you think the post office should force the older workers to retire then GET READY FOR LOTS OF AGE DISCRIMINATION LAW SUITS. UNDER our present ELM the government cannot force anyone to retire in the Postal Service we can work for as long as we want to. SO THERE!!!!
I’ll retire when I get the same benefits that Issas going to get when he is voted out! As for forceable retirement, if you beleive in that you are a bunch of AGE BIGOTS! The new people that are being hired can’t seem to wake up and make it to work on time or even to show up half the time. About 50% of the newbys I’ve been working with are worthless and most of them seem to be related to someone in management! Figures, HUH!
We should start downsizing in Issa’s district. His voters will understand! Then in the next election, we downsize or rather rightsize Congress at the ballot box. Too bad, all the Postal workers just couldn’t all take a week’s vacation at the same time!
Mr. Issa,
You fail to mention the hand cuffs that Congress has on the Postal Service being taken off to really make us a business who can make a profit. Let the PMG run the USPS like a CEO with no intervention from the PRC and Board of Govenors. Let us advertise like UPS/FEDEX to let the American people know we don’t have surcharges. What you see is the fee you pay. Let the USPS be a business not a step child of the government who fills the treasury with our 5.5 billion dollars for OUR future retirees not a piggy bank for the Congress so they can miss manage those funds as they have with Social Security. Also, cap the retirement age so employees know at age whatever that is it, retirement and they can plan accordingly. Right now they can linger well into their 80s or older. He is right, we have a lot of eligible retirees who should retire but unfortunately the economy took a turn for the worse and they can not afford it. Why leave a good paying job to take a low paying job to supplement their retirement.
The Postal Service is a National Icon not a relic. There is still a need for us in the future.
I would say to all of my fellow employees, “Are you doing anything to help save the company that pays for your life?”
Last line, “do the math, it makes NO sense to wait.” sorry about that. J.
Actually, there are not that many “Fully vested” employees that could retire. Fully vested is to have 42 years in service. I don’t know of but a couple of people here at this GMF that is “fully vested”. So that statement which is the whole basis of his argument about people retiring is bogus. If you want to get senior people to leave then offer them an incentive. Offer five years to their time in service to help get them “Fully vested”, which even then would probably not make it, but it would certainly help. Throw in some cash and it would be a done deal. As stated by myself before, no one in their right mind is going to leave in a recession like this unless they have their time in or close to it. Thirty (30) to thirty-five (35) years is not close to it, remember, forty-two (42) years is fully vested, so that should be the goal…other wise be stupid and spend money on salaries, sick leave, vacation leave, health care, etc. All money you could be saving, by adding time in service and getting rid of Civil Service…and all paid for by the over payment to the Civil Service Retirement Fund. Savings the first year alone, would pay for the incentive…do the math, it makes to sense to wait. J.
Rep. Issa is a shill for UPS and others in the mailing industry. His largest corporate donor was UPS, of course he wants to get rid of the Postal Service. Go figure!
Always interesting how these Congressional clowns are all for cutting peoples jobs, pay, etc., but you never see the same being discussed for their jobs.
Shared sacrifice my butt.
Donahoe made $800K last year…
why not start the cost cutting with his salary, then all PCES…
freeze the perks and bonuses for all PCES and EAS…
offer incentives to those who are eligible to retire…
get rid of all non-career employees…
so…so simple!
Mr.Issa Why don’t you expand your mandate to include all gov. workers, including CONGRESS. Most ofyou have been in office to long and are over 55, 65, 75, how high should I go. So offer 1 month service for every year worked, Post Offices retirement system is very solid, so if that is broke don’t fix it. Plus this offering puts no financial stain on the retirement system. So you give employees a incentive, included Congress and replace new employees if needed at a lower salary, (like the clerks union just ratified) your’re helping the economy, by giving younger people to run for Congress.
Issa, no Mr. or Congressman, as I do not respect the title that you wear as a mantle of authority about your neck, so Issa, you are the typical rich conservative in office making a lot of noise and little else.
I could care less what you think of yourself and your accomplishments, there have been more influential and intelligent men that have not tried to bring down the institution we call the US Postal Service.
You are an aberration to the norm, your pockets are lined with pieces of silver from UPS, FEDEX, and who knows who else. Your actions and statements betray your self serving intentions. If you are so willing to ‘ push out ‘ employees out of the Postal Service, then I recommend that you start at the top. Reduce by 50% the wages of PCES employees, then you’ll see some tangible savings. You won’t do it by cutting off your nose, to spite your face….
35 Year Veteran
What a mess management got us into ..why would you give Banks, cable , phone discounts for mailing junk mail when you have a monoply?? They going to mail period.
Although first class mail is decreasing, standard mail is increasing currently by 1 billion pieces every year for the last 3 years. Even at today’s lower piece count, 470 million pieces of mail are delivered every day. Funny congress got the USPS in this mess, that they should be telling us what to do. Currently our country is $14 trillion in debt and the only plan the GOP has is don’t raise the taxes of the wealth. Right now the interest on the debt is $700 billion per year. That means 20% of our tax money is being used just to pay interest! As interest rates increase in the future, the number will easily go past $1 trillion a year.
LET’S SEE ,HE IS THE SECOND RICHEST MAN IN CONGRESS. HE IS OVER 55 ALSO. WHY DON’T YOU RETIRE MR. ISSA? LIGHTEN THE FEDERAL DEFICIT?
mr. issa.
it’s pretty funny that a man who has a record that couldn’t get a job with the post office is telling how we should run this company. how much backing from ups and fed ex did you get this year.
get a life.
First of all, the Rural Carriers do not have a contract. Their last contract expired November 2010 and is going to arbitration.
Rep. Issa and many of his peers should take a pay-cut. They complain about governmnet employees getting paid too much and having great benefits. People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Issa is greatly overpaid, has great benefits, and works very little for his money.
Hey Issa,
what about the federal deficit?
I figure if we get rid of you and all of congress,
the Postal Service can use the money to get out of debt.
You are already making way too much money as it is
So put your papers in you jerk!
he’s right about poor management that brought this about. they should have insisted on increase in rates as soon as the retirement mandate funding raised it’s head. but i bet mngmnt always wanted to downsize the roles and this was an easy way out for them. i,m a carrier so i know some of what i speak.
Offer me 5 years and 30,000 I will put in papers now.