Timothy L. O'Brien, Columnist

Congress May Rescue the Post Office From Itself

Dysfunctions in the U.S. Postal Service are legion, but bipartisan help may finally fix crippling pension rules. It can’t come too soon.

February 9, 2022 at 11:30 AM UTC

Corrected

February 9, 2022 at 4:04 PM UTC

By Timothy L. O'Brien

Timothy L. O'Brien is senior executive editor of Bloomberg Opinion. A former editor and reporter for the New York Times, he is author of “TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald.”

A postal delivery vehicle in Chicago.
Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg

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The U.S. Postal Service is dysfunctional, timeworn, and hemorrhages billions of dollars a year. It’s also an essential operation that still knits communities together and helps major private carriers get their packages to doorsteps.

So it’s wonderful that a bipartisan coalition in the House of Representatives finally mustered the will Tuesday evening to pass a bill that gives the Postal Service a fighting chance. Politicians have warned that the post office was in danger of running out of money in two years without an overhaul.