Reading Room Document

Authority of the Secretary of the Treasury Regarding Postal Service Bond Offering

If the Secretary of the Treasury, within the fifteen-day period following notice by the United States Postal Service of a proposed bond issue, declares his election to purchase the bonds under 39 U.S.C. § 2006(a), the Postal Service may not sell the bonds on the open market, but must instead negotiate in good faith with the Secretary to reach agreement on the terms and conditions of a sale to the Secretary. Transfer of the proceeds of any bond offering by the Postal Service to a trustee for the purpose of having the trustee make payments on outstanding Postal Service debt would be a deposit of Postal Service monies within the meaning of 39 U.S C. § 2003(d) and, accordingly, could be done only with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/20511/download.

January 19, 1993