you're on with ruth goldway. guest: i applaud you and the postal service, and i get irritated when i hear -- caller: i applaud you and the postal service, and i get irritated when i hear you compared to fed ex and ups. ups does not come to my house every day and pick up packages. i applaud you very much. i pay all my bills, and there are times when i need the postal service and there are people who do not have computers and things they definitely need the mail service. i applaud you very much. guest: well, it is nice to hear that. as i said, i have worked in the post the world for 12 years, and i think it is a very important part of our country. the postal service is the one service that is enshrined in the constitution. it was designed by the founding fathers to bind the nation together, and i think that is really what it does. it provides a simple, low-cost, low-tech way for people to talk to one another and to be part of our great nation, and i hope that we can continue to do that. it should not necessarily be

postal service with ruth goldway. "washington journal" is every morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> this week on "the communicators," we discussed on line safety and -- discuss online safety. at is tonight on c-span2. >> the senate judiciary committee returns this week to vote on the nomination of elena kagan as the newest supreme court justice. what coverage here and c-span. learn more about the nation's highest court in c-span's latest book -- "the supreme court -- candid conversations with all of the justices active and retired." it provides unique insight about the court. it is available in hardcover and as an e-book. >> in 2009, president obama created a commission to provide advice on biological issues. they looked into the science and underlying ethics of synthetic biology. next, a meeting where members heard from scholars and government scientists and an fbi agent who investigated a potential buyer terrorism incident. this is 90 minutes. >> we now move to our final panel of today, which will focus on current federal oversight and regulatory activities r

host: stephen, republican, urbana, illinois, for ruth goldway. caller: i do not know either. host: stephen, let me stop you right there. if you can hit the mute button on your set, we will hear you a lot better. turn down the sound it you could. caller: ok. host: ok, steven, go ahead. i am not sure if he is with us. are you there, dave? caller: good morning. my question for mr. goldway is, what the way do you have regarding pension that the postal workers receive? it seems like everything is dedicated to cutting back services, but never reducing costs. if you think about gm or the automobile companies, you saw a significant reduction. host: but you did touch on health care earlier. guest: one of the ironies of the 2006 law is that it increase the postal service benefits by requiring them to prepay health care benefits, to the tune of $5.5 billion a year. and a 70% of the budget. so instead of reducing benefits, that lot actually increased the requirements for the postal service. if we can eliminate that requirement, that will certainly help the postal service. the matter of b

and we will look at the future of the postal service with ruth goldway, chairman of the postal commission. "washington journal" is live on c-span every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. >> c-span, our public affairs content is on television, radio and online. and you can also connect with us on twitter, facebook and youtube. and sign up for our schedule alert e-mails at c-span.org. >> you're looking at a live picture of the well that has been spilling oil into the gulf of mexico. in the last hour a new cap has been put in place, several tests will be conducted to check for other leaks. this could take from six hours to several days. the commission on the disaster held its first meeting. the president established the commission to find ways to prevent future spills. >> we thank you for the opportunity to talk about our efforts in this response. i have a brief presentation which will cover the timeline of the response and what has been taking place since then. 's then. i've also provided you with two pieces of information. one is an overall timeline to date, as well as an outline of the current org