mr. rolando? >> i agree with mr., president he rolando's comments. i would say it is responsible to prefund. the challenge for us in the recent past was the accelerated payment schedule. going forward though the challenge for us is to insure medicare integration. >> is, is modifying this prefunding requirement an essential part of the joint reform proposal to which the postal service, postal unions and certain mailers have agreed? >> yes, congressman. given the prefunding requirement ends this fall, the challenge now is to address the larger issue of an unaffordable system for the postal service and our retirees. >> how much money do you think this would save the postal service? >> fully integrating with medicare for all of our retires, 65 and older would save us over $17.5 billion over the next five years. >> i see. is it true that the postal service retiree health care fund is already 50% funded? >> that's correct, congressman. we're better situated than most. >> and do you know what the current balance in that fund is? >> the current assets are ov

mr. rolando pointed out unique to the postal service. no other federal agency, no other private corporation in america is held to that standard in terms of that prepayment, whatever it is $5 billion, plus, the medicare reform i think we've been talking about which, i wish mr. fair rent hold were still here. that is not a taxpayer giveaway. postal workers paid $29 billion for a service they don't participate in and benefit from yet. those things, could they turn around that financial description you've offered in your report. >> gao has not taken a position on specific elements in that proposal however we supported appropriate restructuring retiree health -- >> if i may, i'm running out of time. i'm not asking for your position. i'm asking for your analysis. if those things were adopted, would your numbers and your prognosis change? >> certainly they would enbenefit the postal service. what we would not want to see however not equal focus on cost reduction and rightsizing trying to get the house in order so whatever revenue is generated i

mr. rolando. give me your overall sense of how the morale is among postal service workers today. mr. lando: the overall morale? we really deal in four different avenues, if you will, with the postal service, depending on the level of engagement of employees and organizations. we deal in a collective bargaining arena, whereby we are addressing things that will affect morale in terms of pay and benefits and working conditions. we work together in an arena of growing the business, making sure service is what it needs to be so we can face our customers every day. that can be rewarding and frustrating at the same time. we deal together in a legislative arena to make sure the postal service is here to serve the american people for many years to come. we deal in another arena i call the culture of the postal service. that is an important thing that has been embedded in a long time in the way it exists. we have a commitment to address that and all those things contribute to the morale of postal workers all over the country different ways. >> thank you. may i yield the rest of my time to the g

mr. rolando. i want to say no other organization in america is compelled to prefund future retirement benefits at the level that is done by the postal service. it is clear that pushing a public agenda which operates with no taxpayer funds, so there was some allusion earlier that we're using taxpayer dollars. the revenue that we generate from the sale of our products is what we fund and operate our business with. so often it seems to get confusing in debate when we start talking about the postal service as if we're using taxpayer dollars. so, it operates with no taxpayer funds to the brink of financial crisis by forcing it to assume the financial burden, assumed by no other agency or company, is the height of the financial irresponsibility of congress. and congress should fix this problem that we created. today as we are having this debate about the future of the postal service, and, yes, there are some issues we need to work with. and, ms. brennan, i've been very clear with you in private conversa

mr. rolando, i want to say i was not on your christmas card list. i do appreciate the fact you have been willing to work with me in an open-minded way. that was your commitment to me, my commitment to you, and i want to thank you. ms. brennan, thank you so much for being here. obviously as we look at this, this is an interesting time and so for all the post all workers, i want to say thank you. >> i've been a secret shopper. in spruce pine just the other day, i went into a place -- actually i sent my wife in, because now i start to be recognized in some of these -- and the service that debby calloway gave my wife was nothing less than spectacular. she doesn't know who she was, so i went back in to thank her for herself, and that's what we need to do in terms of service standards. one of the things you're asking me to do sways going receipt of a prefinding requirement, so why should i do that? make a short, compelling case on why i should do that? >> first it's the right thing to do. it was the ache sell rated pace of that funding that created a larg