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Postal News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 11, 2002
Contact: (202) 268-2155
STATEMENT OF COMMISSION CO-CHAIR JAMES JOHNSON
ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A POSTAL PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION
December 11, 2002
ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A POSTAL PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION
December 11, 2002
Good morning, everyone. Delighted to be here. To Peter Fisher and the other people who work with the Treasury, to the people here from the White House, Postal Service, I did speak with Harry this morning. He was up at 5 and made a big effort to get here but as you know, the weather has been extremely difficult. But, we decided that we'd like to make just two very brief points this morning. First, I'd like to, on behalf of Harry and me, thank President Bush.
I think the most difficult thing to do in many respects in government is to focus effectively on the future. The postal system is not broken, but there are changing circumstances which require us to think ahead, and I think the fact that President Bush has taken this initiative to focus on these changes and focus on the requirements of the future, he should be complimented for. It's not easy, it's complex, it's a very large business, it's a very complicated set of requirements. We'll be very, very responsive to the members of Congress who focused on this for so long, to all of those in the industry, and who work for the postal system. Naturally, of course, we'll focus on listening and learning, and then we'll move to thinking about whether there's some useful recommendations that we can make for the future. So, both Harry and I compliment the President on his foresight in taking this action.
The second thing that we want to say quite simply is that we have no predisposition in terms of how to think about these issues. We're intended to be an independent Commission; we will be an independent Commission. We will be driven by our analysis, we will seek the input very broadly, we'll hold hearings around the country, we will reach out to people who have a vital interest in these services, and we and the other commissioners will do our very, very best to provide a very useful report which has strong recommendations for the future and is delivered on time. Thank you.
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