What Congress did that hurt the most was done in the enabling legislation passed back under Richard Nixon. That was to restrict USPS' ability to ELIMINATE BUILDINGS.
It's totally bizarre.
In the late 1970s I did a study that demonstrated that USPS could get rid of over 25,000 "buildings", restructure rural route service, and save $800,000,000 per annum (now probably worth $10,000,000,000.
About funding retirement, that was one of the Leftwingtard senators from maine who forced USPS to pay AHEAD on "future retiree" medical insurance. They have to pay $5 billion a year into a fund that is supposed to take care of that in the future.
So, how many companies pay ahead on medical insurance for retirees?
I know the answer ~ and the names, but can you name even one of them?
At the same time USPS is ahead by about $78,000,000,000 in paying for regular retirement costs for future retirees.
No other agency of government has made such advanced payments at those levels.
What that means is USPS' employees are being used by the Obamistas to subsidize the US government.
The USPS is part of the federal government despite the phony claims that it is independent. The federal government including the USPS has large levels of retiree health care. I doubt that any retiree health care payments matter because there is no portfolio to support retiree health care. The USPS is not being used to subsidize other areas of the government. The opposite is true. The USPS has been provided recurring subsidies. The USPS is engaged in a misinformation campaign to dump its unfunded pension liability on other areas of the government.