ClineWatch: Ben Cline raises possibility of privatizing the U.S. Postal Service

In February Congress approved and President Biden signed the Postal Reform Act to financially strengthen and secure the U.S. Postal Service while protecting the jobs of the people who provide this essential service.

Even though the Postal Service is a critical connection to the outside world for rural parts of the Sixth District, Congressman Ben Cline was among a minority of Republicans who voted NO.

Now we learn that Cline has raised the possibility of privatizing the Postal Service.

“The Postal Service, just like several other federal agencies, is an inefficient bureaucracy that can’t innovate and keep up with the times,” Cline said in an interview Friday with the John Solomon Reports podcast. “And rather than just continue to reward them with more and bigger budgets, we need to start demanding results. And, you know, put in some triggers, where you incentivize these bureaucrats to actually cut costs.

“Or then they either have part of their business outsourced or, you know, the British have just finished privatizing their postal service. So I think we’ve got some catching up to do. And I think that  a new Republican majority has just the opportunity to explore those options.”

But what kind of cost-cutting does Cline have in mind? What guarantee is there that privatizing the Postal Service would not result in reduced service to the thousands of small communities that depend on it? After all, serving many of these areas is not profitable. It costs more money than it brings in. But that’s exactly why the Postal Service needs to remain a public service.

Cline likes to prove his devotion to the Constitution by pulling out a copy of it from his coat pocket at every opportunity. But Article I, Section 8 gives Congress the power “To establish Post Offices and post Roads” and “To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper” for executing this task. Unlike Cline, the Founders considered postal services to be a core responsibility of government. It still is.

Gene Zitver is the author of ClineWatch.