Trump’s postmaster general attacks Alaska subsidy with false claim

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a financial backer of President Trump, gave false information to Congress about the so-called Alaska bypass mail program that he wants to eliminate.

He made a $380 million mistake, one that shows the general doesn’t know anything about the issue or conditions in Alaska.

In testimony to a Senate committee Friday, DeJoy claimed the program requires a $500 million subsidy, but the real number is closer to $120 million, according to the Postal Regulatory Commission, the board that oversees the US Postal Service. See Page 45 of this 2020 report to the president and Congress.

“Like take the Alaska bypass plan discussion,” DeJoy told the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “That’s an item on the table. That’s an unfunded mandate. It costs us like $500 million a year.”

“That’s a way for us to get healthy. Pay something for the unfunded mandates,” he said.

On Thursday, the Washington Post reported that DeJoy wants to charge more for mail to Alaska and Hawaii. The Postal Service could move to discontinue bypass mail “unless Congress specifically earmarked funding for it,” the Post said,

For the Alaska Congressional delegation, the bypass mail program is among the most treasured features of federal policy. The proposal to eliminate the Alaska subsidy appeared to take them by surprise.

On Thursday, as the Post published reports of DeJoy’s plans, Sen. Lisa Murkowski posted an upbeat item on Facebook about an “encouraging meeting” she had with the Alaska head of the postal service, concluding that “national policy” would not create problems in Alaska.

The bypass mail elimination plan will embarrass Murkowski and do some damage to the re-election campaigns of Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Don Young. The move by Trump’s postmaster general gives an easy issue to Sullivan challenger Al Gross and to Young challenger Alyse Galvin, aside from the Trump attempt to keep people from voting by mail.

The Alaska members of Congress released an opposition statement that did not mention Trump or DeJoy, in keeping with the desire of Trump loyalists Sullivan and Young to steer clear of anything that might prompt Trump’s Twitter finger.

“Throughout the years the Alaska delegation has defended mail delivery to rural Alaska. We’ve done it before and we’ll do it again. Simply put, the bypass mail program saves the Postal Service money and fulfills the USPS’ universal service requirement.”

There is some merit to the argument that the program saves the post office money, but unfortunately it’s not as clear as the delegation claims. There is a possible future, under GOP rule, in which eliminating the bypass subsidy would save the post office money, by destroying the economy of rural Alaska. Urban Alaska would suffer as well.

Without bypass mail, the Postal Service would have to expand its Alaska facilities and personnel at great expense to keep service levels from deteriorating.

With the national threat to the post office, however, no one can expect federal leaders to succeed in getting a major boost to postal facilities and personnel in Alaska.

The post office is more likely to say the subsidy can be done away with and that rural service would continue, but at a much reduced rate. Post office officials have long complained about the service.

The program allows food and general supplies of all kinds for rural communities to bypass postal facilities and to be shipped on pallets handled by air carriers in Fairbanks and Anchorage. Post office employees and facilities are not needed to transfer the cargo and delivery is more efficient because of the pallets. Smaller air carriers break down the pallets and deliver the goods to remote communities by air.

“The difference between this cost of air transportation from hub airports to bush sites and the average cost of ground transportation if it were available is called the Alaska Air Subsidy,” the post office says. It was $114 million in FY 18 and $120 million in FY 19.

Without bypass mail, the supplies would have to be packed in small boxes, not pallets, and taken to the post office hubs before going to the carriers. This would be inefficient and slow. The bypass carriers face deadlines in moving materials, while the shipments would most likely pile up at the post offices, making it impossible to ship perishables on time.

Congress does not provide funding to the post office, but the agency has been crippled by the requirement enacted by Congress in 2006 that the USPS fund health benefits for retired employees in advance.

The survival of bypass mail is an issue of immense importance to Alaska, one that requires a united effort by the Congressional delegation, the governor, legislators and local governments. They need to push back against DeJoy and Trump.

“The post office should raise the price of a package by approximately four times,” Trump said in April, at a meeting attended by Sullivan.

“The Postal Service is a joke,” Trump said.

No one in Alaska is laughing.

Your contributions help support independent analysis and political commentary by Alaska reporter and author Dermot Cole. Thank you for reading and for your support. Either click here to use PayPal or send checks to: Dermot Cole, Box 10673, Fairbanks, AK 99710-0673.

Comments? Write to me at dermotmcole@gmail.com