Tester criticizes Postal Service execs for refusing lower pay

FEBRUARY 28, 2012

Senator questions executive salaries as Postal Service considers drastic cuts

 

(U.S. SENATE) – Senator Jon Tester is taking the leaders of the U.S. Postal Service to task, demanding that executives be willing to cut their own salaries as they propose cuts to the nation’s mail service.

 

Tester said that if senior postal executives were willing to cut mail delivery standards and close rural post offices, they should also be willing to “forgo bonuses or reduce salary.”  

 

The Postal Service’s Board of Governors recently told Tester that cutting the salaries of its top employees would have a “chilling effect on the management of the organization.”  Although the Postal Service is struggling financially, the Postmaster General last year earned $800,000 in pay and benefits.

 

Tester responded by pointing out that the heads of both the Treasury and Defense departments – facing their own difficult challenges – earn much less than they might in the private sector.

 

“Civil servants, like the Postmaster General, have unique public responsibilities and sacrifices inherent to their positions,” Tester wrote the Postal Service’s Board of Governors.  “The reality is that many of our government’s senior leaders share this distinctive burden.  Public service is uniquely different [from the private sector] and the Postal Service must rise to meet that expectation.”

 

Tester also took issue with the Board of Governors for suggesting that the Postal Service is a “private enterprise whose operations should be dictated solely by the private marketplace.” 

 

‘The Postal Service is a public entity with unique service requirements that are critical to rural America,” Tester wrote.  “Yet the Service’s plans to erode service standards, close facilities and thus reduce its own effectiveness suggest that this public requirement is lost on the Board of Governors and senior executives of the Postal Service.”

 

The Postal Service in August announced plans to consider closing 85 Montana post offices, and more recently recommended consolidating mail processing facilities in Kalispell, Missoula, Helena, Butte, and Wolf Point.  Pressure from Tester and Montanans eventually convinced the Postal Service to keep Missoula’s facility open.  

 

Tester, a member of the Senate committee that oversees the U.S. Postal Service, said that he remains committed to reforming the Postal Service in a way that preserves the “public nature of the institution.”

 

Tester’s letter to Board of Governors’ Chairman Thurgood Marshall Jr. and Board Member Louis Giuliano is available below and online HERE.

 

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Rehberg, House Pass Legislation to Protect Private Property Rights

February 29, 2012 CONTACT: Jed Link, 202-225-3211

Rehberg Introduced Original 2005 Legislation To Correct Kelo v. City of New London Decision WASHINGTON, D.C. – Montana’s Congressman, Denny Rehberg,  joined House colleagues in passing H.R. 1433, the Private Property Rights Protection Act.  This badly needed legislation would correct a dangerous expansion of eminent domain authority by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case Kelo v. City of New London.  In that case, eminent domain was used to seize land for the purpose of economic development – not public use.  Rehberg introduced similar legislation in 2005 – the Private Property Protection Act (then H.R. 3083). “There aren’t many things more important than property rights, especially in a state like Montana where the land plays such a big part in our day-to-day lives,” said Rehberg.  “In 2005, the Supreme Court made a dangerous decision to put property rights at risk by expanding the government’s authority to seize it by force.  In recent years, we’ve seen the federal government giving business cronies on Wall Street and K Street billions of dollars in tax payer bailouts.  Who’s to say handing over our private property isn’t next?  That’s why we needed this bill when I introduced similar language in 2005, and it’s why I hope the Senate acts quickly to get this to the President.” In Kelo v. City of New London, the High Court ruled governments may seize homes, small businesses, and other private property to further economic development.  This is a significant expansion of the authority of eminent domain, which traditionally has been reserved for cases of public use and public welfare. Among other things, the Private Property Rights Protection Act restricts the power of states or local governments that receive federal economic development funds to use eminent domain over property intended for economic development.  Essentially, it argues that the public benefit of economic development is not a sufficient public use to warrant the revocation of private property. “Property was listed among the three unalienable rights in the Declaration of Independence – the document that shaped the very creation of our nation,” said Rehberg. # # #

BAUCUS: MONTANA POISED TO LEAD THE NATION TOWARD ENERGY SECURITY

February 28, 2012

***NEWS RELEASE***

Senator Responds to New Report, Highlights Montana Energy Development Opportunities

 

(Washington, D.C.) – Montana’s senior U.S. Senator Max Baucus reaffirmed his call for Montana to lead the way toward the nation’s energy independence in response to new recommendations released today by a coalition of energy industry, environmental, state and labor leaders. The proposals came from a broad group of stakeholders, some of whom participated in Baucus’ 5^th Montana Economic Development Summit where Baucus was instrumental in bringing some of the country’s foremost energy experts, including Energy Secretary Chu, to meet with Montana energy leaders and explore new ways to capture and develop the state’s vast energy resources, from wind to coal to oil and gas to biomass. Today’s recommendations are aimed at boosting domestic U.S. oil production while reducing the nation’s CO₂ emissions.

 

“It’s a win-win for our outdoor heritage and for our energy future to look for ways to both develop more oil and get more carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.  Our economic development summits are designed to bring people together to come up with solutions for jobs and this is evidence that they work.  From a CO2 pipeline and injection project under development in the Bell Creek oil field in southeastern Montana to an innovative public-private carbon sequestration project in the Kevin Dome in Toole County, Montana is helping to lead the way. I look forward to working with members of this initiative to make the existing federal incentives work better to promote a safer, cleaner and more prosperous American economy,” said Baucus, who as Chairman of the Senate’s tax-writing committee helped author the carbon sequestration tax credit in 2008.  This incentive provides taxpayers up to $20 per ton to capture and permanently store carbon dioxide.

 

The Enhanced Oil Recovery Plan released by the National Enhanced Oil Recovery Initiative, the Great Plains Institute and the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions was welcomed with bipartisan support in Congress today.

 

Contact: Kate Downen 406-839-4713/Kathy Weber 406-329-7980/Jennifer Donohue 202-224-2651

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BAUCUS ASKS MONTANANS TO TESTIFY ON FARM BILL

February 28, 2012

 ***NEWS RELEASE***

Senator Looks to Montanans for Input on 2012 Farm Bill during Senate Agriculture Hearing

 

(Washington, D.C.) – Montana’s senior U.S. Senator Max Baucus called on Montana farmers and ranchers to share their insight into working lands conservation programs during a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on the 2012 Farm Bill today. As a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Baucus is currently writing the next Farm Bill. During today’s hearing he asked Montana agriculture producers to work with him to improve the bill and share their ideas on how to make the bill’s conservation programs work better for ranchers and farmers.

 

“Montana farmers and ranchers are the original conservationists. They know best how to work the land and because they depend on the land, they have such a critical role in protecting our outdoor heritage and I am thankful that Carl was able to share a real boots on the ground perspective with the Committee today,” said Baucus. “As President Eisenhower once said, ‘Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from a corn field.’ That’s exactly why input from Montana farmers and ranchers is so critical in this process. I value their ideas and will keep looking to them to make the next Farm Bill as strong as it can be for good-paying agriculture jobs.”

 

Some of the key witnesses at today’s hearing enjoy Montana roots including:

 

• Bruce Nelson, Farm Service Agency Administrator, a fourth-generation wheat farmer from Fort Benton, Montana and former Montana Farm Service Agency Executive Director
• David White, Natural Resources Conservation Service Chief, who served as the State Conservationist in Montana from 2002 to 2008.
• Carl Mattson, Mattson Farms, Chester, Mont.

 

During the hearing, Baucus also highlighted the work the Natural Resources Conservation Service and Montanans are doing to keep sage grouse off the Endangered Species list.  The Sage Grouse Initiative in Montana has paved the way to preserving sage-grouse habitat while increasing the sustainability of working ranches and farms across the West.  Chester farmer, Carl Mattson testified as to the importance of a grassroots, team-approach to conservation during the hearing. Audio/video clips are included below and a transcript is available online HERE.

 

AUDIO:

MP3 audio file: http://gp1d.senate.gov/sdmc/Baucus/022812_BAUCUS_1_AUDIO.mp3

 

VIDEO:

MPEG2 video files:

 

• HD…http://gp1d.senate.gov/sdmc/Baucus/022812_BAUCUS_1_FTP.M2T
• SD… http://gp1d.senate.gov/sdmc/Baucus/022812_BAUCUS_1_FTP.MPG

 

Contact: Kate Downen 406-839-4713/Kathy Weber 406-329-7980/Jennifer Donohue 202-224-2651

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