Craven politics: Schumer strongly supported the bill he’s now attacking

Gideon’s central argument is flawed

A number of Democrats, including Sara Gideon, have sprinted to the cameras and turned on the dark money ad spigots to criticize Senator Susan Collins for her work to save the U.S. Postal Service and put it back on sound financial footing.

But, they are very clearly not telling the truth to Mainers, yet again. This is a perfect example of how far Senator Collins’s political opponents are planning to go in their campaign of disinformation to win this election.

Here’s what you need to know:

- Gideon and her dark money allies’ argument is basically that the Postal Service’s ongoing funding problems are Susan Collins’s fault due to a 2006 law she coauthored. THAT IS FALSE. The money Gideon is saying is a burden to the Postal Service has not been paid in nine years, so it is not contributing to the USPS’s current problems.

- The Collins-Carper-Schumer 2006 bipartisan postal reform bill received unanimous Senate support. That means it was supported not only by Chuck Schumer but by other Democrats including then-Senators Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, and even current Democratic leaders like Dick Durbin and Patty Murray. But, the truth isn’t stopping Schumer’s dark money group from running ads attacking Collins for a bill he supported! By the way, Nancy Pelosi and Bernie Sanders also supported the ‘06 bill as members of the U.S. House.

- The 2006 bill was created with the assistance of the Postmaster General and a number of related postal unions. In fact, the National Association of Letter Carriers, the group that Gideon joined at a press conference this morning, lists the Collins-Carper-Schumer bill as an accomplishment on its website! Other groups supporting the bill include the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, National Association of Postal Supervisors, Financial Services Roundtable, and the Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service.  

- Democrats are blaming the Postal Service’s current financial troubles on the 2006 bill because it created a requirement that it fund its retirees health benefits. Again: The Postal Service hasn’t met the pension funding requirement for almost ten years, so any financial troubles it’s having aren’t related to the funding requirement.

- Gideon’s position would actually raid the health benefits of postal workers. The ‘06 bill avoided a massive taxpayer bailout of USPS and saved the health coverage of postal employees (which is why the unions wanted the bill at the time). 

This is yet another one of Gideon’s false attacks. She and her allies have been busted by reporters eight different times for her deluge of falsehoods, and she doesn’t appear to be slowing down.

Just another day for Sara Gideon: false attacks, dark money. Rinse, repeat.