Amid Looming USPS Bankruptcy & New $1.95 Billion Loss for Q2 2026, Keep US Posted Urges Congress to Include Reforms in Any Financial Relief

Fifth Consecutive Quarterly Loss — Up from $1.3 Billion in Q1 — Highlights Urgency of Financial Relief that Enforces Accessibility, Affordability & Accountability Requirements

(May 8, 2026) — Washington, DC — Keep US Posted — a nonprofit advocacy group of consumers, nonprofits, newspapers, greeting card publishers, magazines, catalogs and small businesses — today urged Congress to help the U.S. Postal Service by prioritizing financial relief that also includes key reforms aimed at keeping USPS from squandering yet another congressional effort to financially stabilize the agency. The Postal Service today announced a projected Q2 2026 loss of $1.95 billion and has only potentially avoided insolvency by early 2027 through halting pension payments and implementing new surcharges. Even with $130 billion in relief from Congress and unprecedented stamp hikes, the agency has still lost over $30 billion since the close of fiscal year 2021, is functionally bankrupt after defaulting on its liabilities, and still faces pending operational insolvency.

“USPS is staring at another huge quarterly loss and faces financial ruin unless Congress acts, but when Congress steps in, it should insist on real, enforceable reform,” said former Congressman Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.), executive director of Keep US Posted. “The core challenge for USPS is spending and productivity, not revenue. Former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s Delivering for America plan and its repeated above-inflation stamp hikes are hurting, not helping, USPS and the mailing public. Stamp prices have climbed 44 percent over the past 15 years, while rates for other mail products have risen even more — reducing both volume and revenue, according to the Postal Regulatory Commission. At the same time, USPS total factor and labor productivity has fallen to the lowest levels in the modern agency’s history.”

Yoder continued, “Raising the Postal Service’s borrowing authority or providing funds without without guardrails would be a blank check that only delays the inevitable collapse of the agency’s finances and leads to a massive taxpayer bailout. USPS has already maxed out its borrowing, which is currently capped at $15 billion. Given that it faces $8 billion in projected losses this year, even doubling its borrowing authority would buy months, not years, without key reforms. USPS needs help from Congress, but any financial assistance should be tied to a CPI-based price cap, stronger Postal Regulatory Commission oversight, and measurable cost controls that protect universal service and affordability.”

Last month, Keep US Posted sent a letter to Reps. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) and Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.), chair and ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations, to make the case that any legislation should also enforce accountability, accessibility and affordability requirements. The letter also corrected and contextualized statements made by Postmaster General David Steiner in testimony before lawmakers in March. 

Keep US Posted specifically urges Congress to ensure that any financial relief provided to USPS also includes the following key principles and reforms contained in H.R.3004:

• ACCESSIBILITY: Preserve the Universal Service Obligation requiring six-day mail and package delivery to every address. 

• AFFORDABILITY: Limit rate hikes to once per year and keep them affordable for small businesses and consumers. A CPI-based price cap for Market Dominant products would require USPS to improve efficiency and live within its means. Any service reductions must be required to provide guaranteed savings.

• ACCOUNTABILITY: Strengthen the PRC’s oversight with binding authority over service changes and a dedicated customer advocate to ensure USPS improves efficiency and cost discipline to live within its means.

About Keep US Posted

Keep US Posted is a nonprofit advocacy group of consumers, nonprofits, newspapers, greeting card publishers, magazines, catalogs and small businesses — all united in the belief that a reliable, affordable U.S. Postal Service is essential to our way of life and should be protected. Keep US Posted supports alternatives to current and future efforts to slow the mail and increase postage rates. To learn more, visit www.KeepUSPosted.org.