The Postal Oversight Hearing: A Program

I never go to a baseball game without buying a program.   I know the players on my team, the Orioles, and yes we will end up this season over .500 and ahead of the Yankees.  But i know little about the opposing team and know nearly nothing about the bench and bullpen.   As for player numbers on either team, without the program, I am nearly useless.  

The same is true when I go to the theater.  I like to know a bit about the play and the actors.   This is particularly true if the story is complicated or the language may be a bit archaic or obtuse.  

Today's hearing, "Pushing the Envelope: The Looming Crisis at USPS" that will be held by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce is no different.  It is particularly interesting as the hearing will be equivalent to what opening day for the Orioles will be this year.  While there are some players are well known Orioles fans, most of the infield is new, the left fielder is playing his position full time for the first time and the pitching staff is young and relatively untested.   Add to this opening day feeling the improvisational acting nature of politics, that is equivalent to some of the sketches of the show "Who's Line is It Anyway?" in which politicians of both parties and commentators of all stripes present arguments that almost seem like they had just been given the card "present the conservative  position" or "present the liberal position" just before the hearing or television show begins.

Pushing the Envelope: The Looming Crisis at USPS
A hearing in two panels

The Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, U.s. Postal Service and Labor Policy 

• Republicans 
• Chair: Rep. Dennis Ross (FL-12
• Vice Chair: Rep. Justin Amash (MI-3)
• Jim Jordan (OH-4)
• Jason Chaffetz (UT-3)
• Connie Mack (FL-14)
• Tim Walberg (MI-7)
• Trey Gowdy (SC-4)
• Democrats 
• Stephen Lynch, Massachusetts, Ranking Member
• Eleanor Holmes Norton, District of Columbia
• Gerald E. Connolly, Virginia
• Danny Davis, Illinois

Panel One

Patrick Donohue, Postmaster General and CEO of the Postal Service
Ruth Goldway, Chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission
Phil Herr, Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues, U.S. Government Accountability Office

Panel Two

Jim Sampley, Executive Vice President and CEO ValPak
Frederic Rolando, President, National Association of Letter Carriers
Arthur Sackler, Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service