postal service. a hearing was held one week after the postmaster general announced the move to five day letter delivery service. house oversight committee members testify. this is just under two hours. minutes. >> i have a statement i would like to give. i am going to yield to our friends from the house, chairman isa and our friends, i have enjoyed working with you. last year, had a chance to bear down and try to get to -- we got in the red sun in terms of final solution we've made real progress. and when to forego comments initially and ask our colleagues to just go ahead and pick it up from there. again, thank you for ining us. >> thank you. chairm >> mr. cummings and i came very close in the last congress to what we thought was a bipartisan, bicameral deal. we start of this congress with the view that with you as team members and cochairs of what we think is a bipartisan, bicameral problem and bipartisan, bicameral solution, we believe we can get there. there. clearly as you can meet today, the su

were the only postal employees to the postal service. letter carriers to their part to generate new business and revenue for the postal service said the rural letter carriers actively approach businesses on their route you think editors. as of february 1st, 2013, more than $313.5 million in new business for the usps. the nrlca and its members care about the postal service and its service to americans and we are turned about the apparent direction it is going. the postmaster general sainthood lemonade saturday mail delivery will destroy the postal service. the nrlca does not support this plan, nor do we believe the postal service can implement the plan without congressional action. the post general himself recognizes he could not circumvent congress to implement his plan. the postal service states in its question that in order to eliminate saturday delivery, congress must elect the legislation to deliver six days a week, unquote. postmaster general donahoe has testified twice before congress before the same committee. they're asking congr

postal office. they heard from patrick donohue ending saturday delivery in effort to cut costs in the financial ailing constitution. this portion of the hearing is just over an hour. >> our second panel comprised of generals, a postmaster general and comptroller general. they are not in uniform today, but in uniform they wear every day. thank you for joining us. the first witness is don, the postmaster general. he's spent his entire career at the postal service beginning as a clerk at the age of 12. all right, maybe not 12. a young clerk in his hometown of pittsburgh spending many years in top leadership positions before appointed postmaster general in 2010. good man, look forward to working with you. glad you could be with us today. second is gene who served as the controller general of the united states and head of the u.s. government accountability office since 2010, acting controller when i first met him when he came on board, and he is one of the -- one of my -- one of the witnesses i most enjo

postal service. this hearing began at 10:00 eastern this morning. >> spent his entire career at the postal service beginning as a clerk at the age of 12. not 12 but a young clerk at his hometown of pittsburgh. spent many years in top leadership positions before being postmaster general in 2010. good man. glad you could be with us today. our second witness on this panel is gene. he served as the comptroller general of the united states and head of the u.s. government accountability office since 2010. he was the acting comptroller, theans when i first met him, when he came onboard and he is one of the -- one of my -- one of the witnesses i'm most enjoyed welcoming. this really puts pressure on him because he never uses prepared testimony. like right off the top of his head. we have hundreds of people that come to testify and they have it right there in front of them, have people whispering in his ear. this man sits there and delivers. you heard the term stand and delivers. he sits and delivers. my gues

postal service solvent? >> we just received an arbitrated decision from an arbitrator on our contract in which we created new employees at a lower pay, some of them with no benefits in a part-time capacity. >> okay. >> again -- again, over 40% of our employees, our craft, is a non-benefit employee. >> okay. this is the national rural letter carriers association. >> that's correct. that's who i'm speaking for. >> should the other letter carrier unions take your past actions as a way forward to maybe solve the solvency problems at the postal service? should they renegotiate. >> sir, i can't speak for the other yiewns. i'm not asking you to speak for them. would that help solve the $16 billion deficit that the usps has? >> there have been other agreements with the other unions who have done the same thing. step to the plate. look at a lower pay for those employees, incoming employees. the unions have done that. >> okay. >> the unions have worked with the postal service to do that. we need to look a the at incre

to be reflected on a postal stamp. we really want to thank the poster service committee for selecting every year for the happy new year stamp, or the lunar year thing, to be part of the commemorative stamp program. with us today is seven cisco postmaster rog cingara (sounds like). >> thank you for that kind introduction. i want to thank you for being with us today and for your support of the united states postal service. i know you have important business in washington to attend to. something about an inauguration. i really appreciate your taking the time out here today and inviting us us to city hall and being part of the celebration. thank you claudine. as always your support and your assistance have been instrumental and it is very much appreciated. thank very much. and thank you all for joining us here today. this is an auspicious ceremony in this beautiful city of san francisco where for the second year in a row now we have been the official first day of issue city for the lunar new year stamp. i might also add th

this is a new approach for the postal service. over the past few years, we proposed moving to a five-day schedule for both mail and packages but our new approach is based on a great deal of customer input we have heard over the course of six, seven months. and strong demand for package delivery and enables the postal service to achieve significant cost reductions. what we are announcing today is not complicated. package delivery will continue monday through saturday and no changes in terms of post office hours. we will be open saturday. we will continue to deliver mail to post office boxes on saturday, which is very important for a number of businesses. mail delivery will occur monday through friday and we will not deliver nor collect mail on saturday. our decision to maintain saturday package service is driven by a number of factors. we have taken a hard look at the future of package delivery and think there is a he very strong growth over this coming decade. as consumers increasingly use and rely on delivery services especially

postal service has as many workers a as walmart. we can't afford the business model if there is one doesn't work. private companies -- this company, the postal service is swimming in red ink. >> eric: postmaster general, $512,000. he makes more than the president of the united states. >> he is one guy. let's talk about the 400,000 postal workers, largest employer of veterans, large employer of minorities. these are middle-class jobs not $500,000 a year jobs. >> it's $28,000 and take it divide it by the employees, it's $82,000. jonathan, what about the unions. let's talk about the postal unions. >> 80% of their yearly expenditures go to the union job benefits. they are tremendously inefficient and pensions are backed up by the taxpayer. it would literally cheaper to buy everyone a computer and posmtd box and kinkos. there has been no innovation. if you try to privatize you would have new innovations. there is a reason apple's product has gone up and post office has gone down. >> let me get wayne in here. let's play -- you are a numbe

postal service. they are announcing they will no longer deliver first-class letters on saturday, starting august 1st. but they will continue to deliver packages and mendcations. this plan -- pledcations. this plan is -- medications. the postal service lost $16 billion last year. they still have a lot of work to do to save more money. our washington, d.c. newsroom is monitoring this postal service press conference. coming up at 7:15, we will find out more information from exactly what the -- what the cuts are the postal service is proposing and what will not change. >>> all right. 7:06. our washington, d.c. newsroom is keeping an eye on all of that. in other news -- a court hearing will be held for the man accused of kidnapping and killing morgan hill teenager, sierra lamar. that's an toe lin garcia- torres. he's expected to -- antolin garcia-torres. he's expected to enter a plea. his dna was found on her clothing. he's accused trying to carjack and kidnap three women from grocery store parking lots b

postal service is in financial trouble. it is they should do -- they should do everything they could to do everything on a cost effective basis. >> reporter: he is questioning the spending, considering the u.s. postal service announced they are losing billions of dollars and plans to stop saturday mail service. one worker called it a waste of money. the u.s. postal service told ktvu at least year's conference they conducted meetings with 60 different customers that contributed to the successful closure of 100 sales valued at 160 million dollars in new revenue. >> reporter: today the u.s. postal service said any employee whose attend the gulf tournament has to pay their own way and they are sending less employees than a year ago. eric rasmussen, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> with afford care act some are worried there aren't enough doctors in california to care for a rush of new patients. the new market place is called covered california. and today the director said they won't allow health plans to join the system unless they can

postal service added that qualification to its legendary motto today. the service is broke and it will drop saturday mail delivery in august. the troubles of the postal service are as big as the agency itself. the u.s.p.s. delivers 40% of all of the mail on earth and it has more than 522,000 full-time workers, which makes it among the top civilian employers in america. but the age of e-mail has turned out to be a much bigger challenge than snow or rain or gloom of night and here's nancy cordes. >> reporter: saturday mail delivery dates back to the inception of the postal service itself in 1863. but today the postmaster general said times have changed and his agency must, too. >> when you lose the first class volume that we've seen, you can't make ends meet from a financial standpoint. the choice is either change some of the service or raise prices. >> reporter: starting this summer, he said, mail carriers will no longer deliver first class letters, mailers, and catalogs on saturdays. though they will continue to deliver packages and express mail. the po

postal employees are civil servants. it's the only institution in america that has been forced to prefund for 75 years a pension plan in a ten-year window. it would have a $1.5 billion surplus in 2012 without this pension requirement. do we get that, folks? this is government intervention by the republicans before they handed the gavel to nancy pelosi. and this is what they stuck the workers with. they want to destroy the post office because they want to privatize everything. today i guess you can say is chapter one, where is the banner, mission accomplished for the republican destruction of the middle class in this country. now, congressman darrell issa, who he just loves the news. he called it common sense-sense reform. of course it's common sense to darrell issa. he has already proposed a bill to put more government regulations on the post office. issa wants to restructure the postal service by capping the growth of the workforce and cutting benefits and services. cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut your way into a prof

much as $100 million on postal fees. investors like the news and sent netflix's stock up 6%. there's some positive on that. >> silver lining for someone. ashley morrison here in new york. thank you. >>> well, coming up on the "morning news," alzheimer's disease expected to reach epidemic levels and later new jersey governor chris christie fighting back on the sensitive issue over his health. this is the "cbs morning news." sensitive issue over his health. this >> announcer: "moneywatch" sponsored by vagisil. count on it. by advantagevagisil. count on it. [ female announcer ] imagine skin so healthy, it never gets dry again. can your moisturizer do that? [ female announcer ] dermatologist recommended aveeno has an oat formula, now proven to build a moisture reserve, so skin can replenish itself. that's healthy skin for life. only from aveeno. >>> a tragic loss for a san francisco 49er just hours after the super bowl. delaney walker's aunt and uncle were driving back and were stopped outside of new orleans when a car slamm

that means the postal service loses about $36 million a day. the usps announced they are no longer delivering letters and mail on saturdays starting august 5th. they will still handle packages which is a agreeing business for them. that's good. the move is expected to save them about $2 billion a year. at what cost? first the milk man and then the repair man and now the mail man. say it ain't so. let's back spin. this is really a sad thing for me. i can remember waiting for the mail man to come. it was a big deal in my house and the mail man would come and get the mail and see what he would bring us. progress is not always in a straight lane. you have e-mail and facebook and ways of communicating, but the art of writing letters is special. >> groen. >> the way people communicates is different and losing that way of communicating is really a loss for society. who is saving e-mails for the smithsonian? letters we have saved from the 1700s and 1800s are important for society. this is sad for another reason too. there could be a lot of jobs lost. t

postal service®, s works for thousands of home businesses.cause at usps.com®, you can pay, print and have your packages picked up for free. i can even drop off free boxes. i wear a lot of hats. well, technically i wear one. the u.s. postal service®, no business too small. >>> here's a look at today's forecast in some cities around the country. new york, the high of 33. miami turning cloudy with 82 the high. chicago, ice and rain, a chilly 38. dallas, showers, 74. los angeles, 64. >>> and time now for a check of the national forecast. the calm before the storm in the northeast. it will be dry and chilly with temperatures in the single digits in parts of northern new england. expect a wintry mix of rain and snow in iowa. and in ohio, rain, some of it heavy will roll across parts of the south, and a major storm moves into the pacific northwest. >>> in sports now, lance armstrong will be sued for millions of dollars today. sca promotions is seeking to recover $12 million it paid to armstrong for winning the tour de france. the company wants the m

postal service will make an announcement about the u.s.n saturday as a way to cut budgets, so what are people saying? were they surprised to hear this? >> reporter: no, the postal service has been talking about this for months and they have cut hours at certain locations but as you mentioned, in just about a few minutes the post master general will basically end saturday delivery service and at the same time continue package delivery on saturday as well, but the big question is, how will this affect your life essentially. they raised postage stamp prices again just a few days ago, and you know despite that, the postal service says these cuts are essentially needed and it will save the agency $2 billion but for some bay area residents they have mixed emotions and they say it does not initially affect them. >> it is disturbing to me because i thought it was a public service at first, i know they have to respond to their employees and stuff, but i heard that the congress has something to say about that and i am hoping maybe it will turn aroun

postal service paid lance armstrong millions to wear its logo. now the government wants that money back. the justice apartment accuses the cyclist of defrauding the postal service. the cyclist denied drug accusations when he road for the postal team but last month he admitted to oprah winfrey he doped his way through seven titles. >> i have used this situation as one big lie i repeated a lot of times. >> reporter: he was in settlement negotiations with government lawyers but talks broke down because the two sides were tens of millions of dollars apart. in a statement the justice department says and i quote lance armstrong and his team took more than 30 million from the u.s. postal service based on their contractual promise to play fair and abide by the rules including those rules against doping. but armstrong's attorneys say their client's drug use did not damage the postal agency and may have benefited it by $100 million. armstrong said he will not talk to u.s. anti doping officials. >>> one of baltimore's favorite desserts disappears. deliviers

they're looking at possible postal reforms. >> it won't come close to solving the postal services problems got to look at more changes in its fundamental structure and operational costs and what does and who does its business. >> reporter: there's just so much the postal service can do without congressional approval. despite years of begging by postmasters general congress never passed the bill that would give them more flexibility to modernize and streamline its service. sometimes the postal service makes these announcements because they're trying to force congress to act. is that what's happening here? >> no, i don't think so. look, they're in survival mode. they're not going have any postal office. here's the alternative. they're lose 2ing $25 million a day. day. they have do something. >> reporter: technically the postal service is not allowed to reduce its service unless congress changes the law, but lawyers for the postal service think that they have figured out a way around this. and, norah, even the president has endorsed this move in the past. it was part of his deficit reduction

the postal service just can't compete with technology. but kpix 5 reporter mike sugerman found out there are still some folks out there who prefer a good old-fashioned letter. >>> reporter: rain, sleet, sno no problem. but the postal service will stop saturday delivery this summer. when was the last time you got a letter that you wanted? >> several years ago. it's been a long time since i have actually gotten a letter. >> reporter: one of the reasons the postal service lost $16 billion, with a b, last year. this move could save $2 billion a year. >> they can't compete with computers and e-mails and u.p.s., fedex now. they just can't. >> reporter: that's exactly what the postmaster general said. >> our move to five-day mail delivery also reflects the changing market demand and we are simply not in a financial position where we can continue to maintain six-day delivery. >> reporter: packages? they will still come. post offices? they will stay open. but bills? flyers? birthday cards? starting in august, with congressional approval, they will

but the postal service won't shut down altogether on saturdays. it will still deliver packages on saturday as demand continues to grow. >> people order goods online at an ever increasing rate and we expect e-commerce will drive consumer habits in that direction for the foreseeable future. >> reporter: fedex and u.p.s. compete with the postal service, but they are also suppliers and customers that rely on mail carriers to deliver some packages. analysts say the postal service would have to run into far more trouble, for fedex and u.p.s. to see a big financial boost. >> we don't think either u.p.s. or fedex is interested in carrying first class mail, well i should say they're not interested in carrying it for 5o cents a package. they'll carry it at their normal ground and express rates and they'll deliver it on a timely manner, but to deliver something for 50 cents, that's just not in the profit mandate for these companies. >> reporter: congress will have the last word on saturday delivery. one in ten americans still have no internet access at home.

we talked about having to close small, nonprofitable postal offices. we spent a lot of time in the field and herd back from crust mers. they said we don't care if you shrink the opening, just keep the it open. here's the problem we're facing, jeff reerk no matter what anybody thinks on this-- people pay bills online. in the year 2003, we delivered 51 billion-- with a "b--" pieces of stamped mail out of the mailbox. this year it will be 21 billion. 30 billion pieces in less than 10 years at 46 cents apiece say differential in that group of $14 billion. nobody is stepping up saying i'll take a pay cut that makes those kinds of differences us. nobody is saying any other opportunities for us to make these changes. what we're trying to do is take a rational business approach on this, common sense, trim where we can, keep delivering the growth products like packages, but when we've lost that much mail, you cannot continue to deliver six days a week with that kind of loss. >> brown: let me just ask you briefly, if you would, because given the kind of changes

but the postal service won't shut down altogether on saturdays. it will still deliver packages on saturday as demand continues to grow. >> people order goods online at an ever increasing rate and we expect e-commerce will drive consumer habits in that direction for the foreseeable future. >> reporter: fedex and u.p.s. compete with the postal service, but they are also suppliers and customers that rely on mail carriers to deliver some packages. analysts say the postal service would have to run into far more trouble, for fedex and u.p.s. to see a big financial boost. >> we don't think either u.p.s. or fedex is interested in carrying first class mail, well i should say they're not interested in carrying it for 5o cents a package. they'll carry it at their normal ground and express rates and they'll deliver it on a timely manner, but to deliver something for 50 cents, that's just not in the profit mandate for these companies. >> reporter: congress will have the last word on saturday delivery. one in ten americans still have no internet access at home.

postal service®, no business too small.

if one of the postal workers gets into a postal truck and they're drunk and they drive on the road, thatvidual can be prosecuted for drunken driving but you can't sue the postal service for an accident resulting from the drunk driving. federal immunity. it's broad, it covers everything. >> do they not need insurance, then? on their trucks? >> they're self-insured because there are ways around that. if the post office -- take this example, their driver had a tendency to be drunk and should have pulled him off the road, the same with police officers. if they're a predilection to problems we know about prior, then the post office could be responsible. so there's so many little weird ins and outs. but the reality is their drivers, in this case they claim they're a red light and some violations. >> you know what drives me absolutely bonkers? when i'm looking for a parking spot and there's a guy with a diplomat plate who parks in front of a fire hydrant. >> forget it. diplomatic immunity you can't get past that for a second. bothal immunity? the government has almost the same exact situation.

postal service is announcing they will stop postal delivery service which will save $2 billion but people who receive express mail will still receive it on saturdays. the big reason they are roar reforming, they lost -- they are reforming because they lost 41 billion because they are paying bills online. congress is getting partial blame for the losses and they never passed a reform bill to give the u.s. postal service to modernize and streamline but they feel they have found away around that. we will learn more about it at a news conference in just under two hours where the photograph tall service is strengthen -- where the post office is strengthening. >> we have more breaking news, vice-president joseph biden will nominate sally jewel to be the next secretary of state to replace ken salazar. she will be the first woman he has replaced in his cabinet members. >>> he is scheduled to get out of jail today. gregory was charged outside san mateo hills day shopping mall in 2010. those charges were dismissed last november when the judge found police obtained illegally the concession. he will

the postal service will bring packages six days a week. john hanrahan has more details. >> the problem for the postal service is this. more and more communications nowadays are done electronically. >> we get almost everything, like the invites, even wedding invitations come through the internet. the post office goes on a loss because of that. >> postmaster general, patrick donahue, told reporters that first class mail declined 20% in the past two years. and congress requires the postal service to prefund retirement benefits for its employees, no other organization has to do that. the postmaster general says that federally chartered company is bleeding. >> typical large organization would have cash on hand or quick bore borrowing ability. in october, the postal service had less than four days of cash on hand. that's a very scary situation. >> the postmaster general says in six months, his agency will scale back delivery of mail from six days a week to five. packages, however, will continue to be delivered mondays through saturdays. the post

postal service has as many workers a as walmart. business model if there is one doesn't work. private companies -- this company, the postal service is swimming in red ink. >> eric: postmaster general, $512,000. he makes more than the president of the united states. >> he is one guy. let's talk about the 400,000 postal workers, largest employer of veterans, large employer of minorities. these are middle-class jobs not $500,000 a year jobs. >> it's $28,000 and take it divide it by the employees, it's $82,000. jonathan, what about the unions. let's talk about the postal unions. >> 80% of their yearly expenditures go to the union job benefits. they are tremendously inefficient and pensions are backed up by the taxpayer. it would literally cheaper to buy everyone a computer and posmtd box and kinkos. there has been no innovation. if you try to privatize you would have new innovations. there is a reason apple's product has gone up and post office has gone down. >> let me get wayne in here. let's play -- you are a numbers guy. if it was a

. >>> you're -- there are going to be some big changes to our mail service, because the postal service says it is cutting saturday delivery. what will it mean? danielle nottingham has some answers. >> reporter: the u.s. postal service has delivered the mail under all conditions for the last 150 years, but it no longer has the money to keep delivering on saturday. the postmaster general announced the cost cutting schedule change today. >> i move to a five-day mail delivery and it reflects the change in market demand. we're simply not in a financial position where we can continue to maintain six-day delivery. >> reporter: letter carriers will no longer deliver first class mail on saturdays beginning in august, but not all saturday services are ending. packages, mail order medicines, priority and express mail will still go to homes and businesses. and post offices will keep their saturday hours. the postal service says its research shows most americans support the change. >> it will not make a big difference in my life. i think sometimes with the economy the way it is right now, people so

postal service, patrick donahoe.e is no choice in the matter, at this point in time, it is necessary to eliminate saturday delivery. and also examine ways to raise revenue and close the gap, so to speak. >> you're absolutely right about that. we knew the postal service had been cash strapped. but hearing those details that they were actually down to a matter of days last fall, as far as cash on hand, that is new in terms of the depth of their cash shortage. it is widely believed that the postal service could again run out of cash, or be cash short as early as the end of next month. they're up against their borrowing limit authority as far as with the treasury. we didn't hear yet the postmaster general make the headline we're all expecting, that the most immediate thing they feel they can do is to cut out saturday deliveries starting in august. that would save them in the neighborhood of $2 billion a year. and specifically, what is the likely reaction to be as far as pushback from congress. there was a bill introduced

postal service. financial crisis set to hit your mailbox. in the end, an end to saturday delivery. >>> and why lance armstrong may face criminal charges. that everything was getting more expensive so we switched to the bargain detergent but i found myself using three times more than you're supposed to and the clothes still weren't as clean as with tide. so we're back to tide. they're cuter in clean clothes. thanks honey yeah you suck at folding [ laughs ] [ female announcer ] one cap of tide gives you more cleaning power than 6 caps of the bargain brand. [ woman ] that's my tide, what's yours? [ male announcer ] when we built the cadillac ats from the ground up to be the world's best sport sedan... ♪ ...people noticed. ♪ the all-new cadillac ats -- 2013 north american car of the year. ♪ for a limited time, take advantage of this exceptional offer on the all-new cadillac ats. exceptional offer but that doesn't mean i don't want to make money.stor. i love making money. i try to be smart with my investments. i also try to keep my costs down. wh

postal service will eliminate mail delivery on saturdays. good evening, i'm jeffrey brown. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. on the "newshour" tonight, we talk with postmaster general patrick donahoe. >> brown: then, president obama picks r.e.i. executive sally jewell to run the interior department. we look at how the cabinet is shaping up with many posts yet to fill. >> ifill: we have two stories from the middle east. margaret warner gets the latest from tunisia, the birthplace of the arab spring, where a leading opposition figure was assassinated today. >> brown: and ray suarez reports on the plight of syrian refugees who've fled to lebanon. >> at this tent camp in al-marj, in the eastern part of lebanon's bekaa valley-- only 25 miles from the syrian border-- refugees are struggling to adapt to a new, impermanent reality. >> ifill: and we close with a look at what's happening with the boy scouts, as they struggle to decide whether to lift a long-standing ban on openly gay members. >> brown: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." >> major fu

postal service will eliminate mail delivery on saturdays. good evening, i'm jeffrey brown. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. on the "newshour" tonight, we talk with postmaster general patrick donahoe. >> brown: then, president obama picks r.e.i. executive sally jewell to run the interior department. we look at how the cabinet is shaping up with many posts yet to fill. >> ifill: we have two stories from the middle east. margaret warner gets the latest from tunisia, the birthplace of the arab spring, where a leading opposition figure was assassinated today. >> brown: and ray suarez reports on the plight of syrian refugees who've fled to lebanon. >> at this tent camp in al-marj, in the eastern part of lebanon's bekaa valley-- only 25 miles from the syrian border-- refugees are struggling to adapt to a new, impermanent reality. >> ifill: and we close with a look at what's happening with the boy scouts, as they struggle to decide whether to lift a long-standing ban on openly gay members. >> brown: that'eaalahl d on tonight's "newshour." >> major fund