MPA – The Association of Magazine Media Reacts to Rejection of Baldwin Amendment to Postal Reform Bill

New York, NY – February 6, 2014 – Mary G. Berner, President and CEO, MPA – The Association of Magazine Media – today issued the following statement after the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs rejected Senator Tammy Baldwin’s amendment that would have remedied the serious flaws in the Carper-Coburn postal reform bill:

“In rejecting this amendment, the Committee has rubber-stamped ongoing postage rate hikes and greatly weakened the independent Postal Regulatory Commission, leaving USPS as an essentially unregulated, government-sanctioned monopoly.“Today’s action could also preempt judicial review of last month’s rate hike, which was three times the rate of inflation, and make permanent the exigent increase.  These rate hikes will hurt businesses, cost thousands of people their jobs, and do nothing to right-size the USPS’s bloated infrastructure.  This isn’t the postal reform we need.  Instead, the Committee wants to pass the buck to the private sector, whose interests have been ignored.

“We offer our sincere thanks to Senator Baldwin for her efforts and offer her our full support in fighting to correct this grave mistake as the legislative process unfolds.”

source: MPA press release