House Democrats and Republicans are telling the Postal Service to push a price increase on its mail products from the end of this summer to at least January 2022.
Two members of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Government Operations Subcommittee chairman Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and National Security Subcommittee Ranking Member Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) are leading 11 other Republicans and eight other Democrats in calling on USPS to delay the price increase, which will take effect Aug. 29.
Lawmakers warn Postmaster General Louis DeJoy that raising prices at a time when USPS revenues are increasing would be “premature and counterproductive.”
The price hike would raise the price of a first-class from 55 cents to 58 cents and would generally raise mail processes by about 6.8%, while magazines, newspapers and catalogs would see an 8.8% price increase. USPS raised prices on its “market-dominant” mail products in January by 1.8% to keep up with the rate of inflation.