“Given the Postal Service’s ongoing financial challenges and the amount of work the Commission has on its plate, a significant increase in travel by you — or any member of the Commission — raises questions,” Carper wrote to Goldway on Wednesday.
“If we are going to ask postal employees and customers to make sacrifices to save the Postal Service, then the leadership at the Postal Service and the Commission — and even members of Congress — have a responsibility to set a good example when it comes to frugality and basic financial management,” he added.
Goldway plans to submit a detailed response by Feb. 20, a PRC spokeswoman said Wednesday.
The Post reported Monday that the PRC has spent at least $70,600 on Goldway’s official trips since she became chairman in August 2009. She has spent at least 238 days traveling, attending meetings across the United States and in eight countries, records show, including stops at conferences in Scotland, Spain and Portugal. Her predecessor maintained a similar, although less expensive, travel schedule.
Goldway, a Democratic commissioner on the five-member panel, defended her travels in an interview.
“I really think that what we do is well within the bonds of responsibility, and I make a special effort to make sure that any travel I take is extremely frugal,” she said.
The commission’s roughly $14.3 million budget is set by Congress and not directly tied to the Postal Service. Carper, who is chairman of a Senate subcommittee on federal financial management, and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who tracks postal issues as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, expressed concern about the volume of Goldway’s travel at a time of financial crisis for the Postal Service.
The USPS said it lost $5.1 billion in fiscal 2011.
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