Forget things like bingo and early bird specials. What elderly Americans really love is getting junk mail, at least according to the increasingly loopy Harry Reid. In fact, junk mail is “sometimes their only way of communicating or feeling like they’re part of the real world,” he claims.
Seriously, that’s what he said.
If this is the most compelling reason Reid could think of to rally support for the latest postal reform bill, it might just be time to end taxpayer subsidies for the nearly-obsolete, money-losing operation altogether.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) cited seniors’ love of junk mail in urging passage of a United States Postal Service reform bill.
In his opening speech on Wednesday, Reid called on the Senate to quickly move forward on the passage of S. 1789, the 21st Century Postal Service Act, which restructures pension plans for Postal Service employees as well as allows the USPS to access overpayments in the Federal Employee Retirement System.
“Madam President,” Reid said to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), the presiding officer of the Senate, “I’ll come home tonight here to my home in Washington and there’ll be some mail there. A lot of it is what some people refer to as junk mail, but for the people who are sending that mail, it’s very important.
“And when talking about seniors, seniors love getting junk mail. It’s sometimes their only way of communicating or feeling like they’re part of the real world,” Reid continued. “Elderly Americans, more than anyone in America, rely on the United States Postal Service, but unless we act quickly, thousands of post offices … will close. I’ve said this earlier today; I repeat it.