Congress created postal mess

Leonard C. Johnson, of Moscow, has been hoodwinked.

In his April 21 letter, he complains about “pre-funding of retirement benefits for 70 years” for Postal Service workers, which he says were “imposed under a union contract,” concluding it constitutes an argument against “government employee unions.”

What he apparently doesn’t realize is that this funding mandate – required of no other agency – was imposed not by the union, but upon it, by a 2006 act of Congress under the leadership of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, in a cynical attempt to bankrupt the USPS and break its union.

Johnson, and anyone else concerned, has only the last Republican-led Congress to thank for a self-created crisis.

Steven A. Wells

Spokane