The United States Postal Service is staring down a financial cliff, and its top executive just told Congress the agency needs more money — or it could stop paying its workers within two years.
Postmaster General David Steiner testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Tuesday afternoon, warning that USPS could be unable to pay workers and vendors by February 2027 without congressional action. He proposed raising Forever stamp prices to as much as 95 cents and urged lawmakers to lift the $15 billion cap on USPS borrowing that has been in place since 1990.
The testimony follows a warning Steiner issued earlier this month that the agency will run out of money within a year. USPS has been losing money for two decades. The quarter before Steiner took the helm last July, the agency reported a $3.3 billion net loss.
According to The U.S. Sun, the core of Steiner's argument is simple: USPS doesn't charge enough for what it delivers. He pointed to international comparisons, noting that France charges almost $3 and England charges $2.50 per stamp, for countries where the longest delivery distance is about 600 miles.
"We deliver from the tip of Puerto Rico to the tip of Alaska for 78 cents. That's a distance of 5,000 miles. So, we sell the stamp at less than half the cost to travel over eight times farther," Steiner told lawmakers.
Steiner is pushing postal regulators to raise the price of a Forever stamp from 78 cents to either 90 or 95 cents. However, he noted that the Postal Regulatory Commission — an independent agency created by Congress to oversee USPS — has so far declined to allow such increases. "If the Postal Regulatory Commission adopted our pricing model, problem solved," he said.
Beyond pricing, the 76th Postmaster General and CEO of USPS urged Congress to vote to remove the $15 billion cap on USPS's borrowing allowance. That cap has been in place since 1990. Steiner described lifting it as the easiest thing lawmakers can do immediately. "That will buy us the time to make the fixes we need to make, and we can sail on down the road," he told the committee. The implication is clear: without breathing room on the balance sheet, operational reforms alone won't save the agency.
The issue has sparked debate among fiscal conservatives and government reform advocates alike. On one hand, USPS operates as a quasi-independent entity that is supposed to sustain itself without taxpayer funding. On the other hand, decades of legislative constraints — including the borrowing cap and regulatory pricing controls — have effectively tied the agency's hands while demanding it maintain universal service.
To his credit, Steiner has not simply asked for a blank check. Since taking over, the agency has laid off nearly 29,000 workers and implemented new delivery standards last year. As of fiscal year 2025, those reforms have generated roughly $1 billion in savings.
Looking ahead, USPS expects $36 billion or more in savings over the next decade from continued restructuring. But those long-term projections don't solve the short-term liquidity crunch. If Congress fails to act, the agency may not be able to pay workers or vendors by February 2027.
"We are doing our part to right the ship. But long-term sustainability requires alignment between what the country asks of the Postal Service, and what revenue sources are available, and policy limitations are imposed," Steiner said. He framed the challenge as a structural mismatch between mandated service levels and permitted revenue.
USPS already approved a round of price hikes set for July 2025. Forever stamps will rise from 73 cents to 78 cents, domestic postcards from 56 cents to 62 cents, and metered one-ounce letters from 69 cents to 74 cents. International postcards and one-ounce international letters will each increase from $1.65 to $1.70.
Those increases, however, fall well short of what Steiner believes is necessary. He laid out the choice plainly: "If you want the same level of services that we have today — six-day-a-week delivery and 33,000 plus post offices, we can do that, and we are glad to do that. But someone has to pay for it, and the only options are postal ratepayers or taxpayers."
That's the fundamental question facing Congress — and, ultimately, American households and businesses. Steiner closed his testimony with a call for operational freedom: "Lift the anchor and grant us the freedom to operate as a truly independent agency, and I am confident the Postal Service will not only stay afloat, but remain a strong, self-sustaining institution that continues to bind the nation together for another 250 years." Whether lawmakers answer that call remains to be seen, but the clock is ticking toward February 2027.