dr. crawford, not mr. crawford. for the closing statement, i want to recognize dr. crawford. i kept asking my staff, is he a mister or ciis he a doctor? all the times i called you mister. i apologize. dr. crawford. >> i just take this opportunity to say i was here two years ago almost to the day for my hearing the first time around, and sf 1789 had actually passed in the senate. since then, my wife has said to me this classic question that we've all been asked, why do you want to do this? the board can't fix what's wrong with the postal service. congress seems to be reluctant to act. and to be perfectly frank, i had to ask myself, does this make good sense? and it has been so gratifying to come back this time because s 1486 had been reported out of the committee, and i am just so impressed by the changes that it holds forth and am hopeful enough that those or something like those will be enacted that i find myself almost sharing michael david bennett's enthusia enthusiasm, and the fact that there are four of us together here now with such an interesting background, i have to

dr. crawford, not mr. crawford. for the closing statement, i want to recognize dr. crawford. >> i appreciate is that. >> i kept asking my staff is he a mister or doctor, finally they told me you're a doctor. i apologize. dr. crawford. >> i will take this opportunity to say, you know, i was here two years ago, almost to the day for my hearing the first time around. sf 1789 it had actually passed in the senate. since then my wife has said to me this classic question that we've all been asked, why do you want owe do thto do this? the board can't fix what's wrong with the postal service. congress seems to be reluctant to act. to be perfectly frank, i had to do ask myself, does this make good sense? it has been so gratifying to come back this time because s 1486 has been reported out of the committee and i have -- i am just so impressed by the changes that it holds forth. i am hopeful enough that those -- or something like those will be enacted. that i find myself almost sharing michael david bennett's enthusiasm and the fact that there are four of us together here now wi

dr. miller and go first then steven crawford then ms. kennedy you could make some ad libs but thank you for your willingness for this responsibility. currently a senior advisor at the international law firm and a member of the board for americans for prosperity and a senior fellow at the hoover institution in stanford and earlier the first administrator for the of regulatory affairs. [laughter] he has eight years of prior experience having served on the board of governors to thousand three through 2011 and is itching to get back in the game. steven crawford a research professor at george washington institute of public policy previously served as vice president policy research 2008 through 2009 serves as deputy director at the brookings institution and is the u.s. army veteran receiving it of star for his service in vietnam and i spent a couple years over there myself. think you for your service. and david michael bennett information officer previously practiced law and an2012 with the washington business journal. and dickey for assuming

dr. miller. and go first with him and steven crawford and then when i come to ms. kennedy, we'll ask you to introduce her and make a couple of ad libs and audibles on top of what you already say. let me start off by just saying thanks very much for your willingness to take on this important responsibility. james miller is currently a senior adviser at the international firm of -- hush, blackwell. he's a member of the board of americans for prosperity and a senior fellow at the hoover institution at the stanford university. earlier in his career he was the director of omb and the first administrator of omb's office of information and regulatory affairs. for you know purgatory. straight to heaven. mr. miller has eight years of prior experience in the field he's nominated for today. he's itching to get back into the game. i don't know that. he's willing to get back into the game. steven crawford, nice to see you. how are you? he's a research professor at george washington institute of public policy at gwu and previously served as vice president at the corporation for

crawford? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i agree with dr. miller's analysis. i think the mail volume, especially for the standard mail, is so sensitive to prices that the postal service is not about to try to jack up that price. you know, the notion of a monopoly position, it's not as much, it's not as hard a monopoly as some monopolies are. and i applaud s-1486 for the reforms in the price cap. i'm on record in previous writings for lifting the price cap and making adjusts. i think the postal service needs that flexibility. i think the postal regulatory commission has a role to play in reviewing the reasonableness of those. but to do it ahead of time is just, as vicki kennedy was saying, we need to be nimble enough, the postal service does, to be able to make adjustments. fuel costs can go up very quickly if there's a crisis abroad. we saw surcharges put on fed ex and u.p.s. when there was a spike in gasoline prices. the postal service doesn't have that flexibility. i think they need it. i think it's fine to review it after the fact and i think the new legisl