Free Trade Agreements, USPS, and the CEI Podcast

Free Trade Agreements

Congress reportedly intends to move forward on several pending free trade agreements.

Research Associate Nick DeLong comments.

“For quite some time, CEI has been critical of Congress and the White House’s failure to support the long standing FTAs without the inclusion of TAA. While it’s good to see that TAA won’t be tied directly to any one FTA, it’s disappointing to note that the approval of TAA has essentially become a pre-condition to their endorsement. As CEI has mentioned several times before, free trade agreements should be voted up or down based upon their own merits.”

USPS

According to some members of Congress, the United States Postal Service needs a $100 billion stimulus.

Research Associate Trey Kovacs comments.

“USPS has hit the brink of insolvency. USPS discontinued its contractual obligations to contribute to the Federal Employees Retirement System, citing their $8.51 billion deficit last year. This legally questionable action by USPS is not a solution to their fiscal crisis and only saves revenue in the short term. USPS projected annual losses and deficits in the near future are astounding, by 2020 USPS will incur annual losses of $33 billion by 2020 and projected deficits of $8.3 and $8.5 billion in the upcoming years. Considering this data, the Postal Service has called on Congress to act to alleviate their financial constraints.”

CEI Podcast

In the most recent CEI Podcast, Fellow in Regulatory Studies Ryan Young talks to Adjunct Scholar Fran Smith. Listen here.