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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina s congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Myorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Are Financial Services the Future of the USPS?

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Tuesday, February 23, 2021   

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Postal banking supporters say having more financial services accessible at U.S. Postal Service locations could help the nation make a more equitable recovery from the COVID-19 economic crisis.

More than 12 million people, or 6% of American adults, don't have a bank account. Another 16% are "under-banked," who have a bank account but also use money orders, check-cashing services, payday loans or tax credit advances.

Porter McConnell, campaign director for Take on Wall Street, said these alternative financial services often can be predatory, or charge exorbitantly high rates. She argued postal banking could fill a crucial gap.

"It's infrastructure that's already there," McConnell pointed out. "It's a very skilled workforce. And the universal service mandate of the post office means that everybody gets to be served by the post office. "

Statistics show 14% of Black residents and 11% of Latino residents are unbanked, compared with just 4% of Caucasian residents.

McConnell noted big Wall Street banks often have closed branches in rural or low-income communities, leaving behind banking deserts.

McConnell thinks the prospects for implementing postal banking in the U.S. are better than ever. It was included in the Democratic Party platform last year, as well as a draft of the CARES Act, and President Joe Biden has indicated his support.

"There's a lot of underbanked and unbanked communities in the middle of Boston, and there's a lot of unbanked or underbanked communities out in the hill country in western Massachusetts," McConnell outlined. "And so, what's great about it is that it serves both of those communities really well."

In 2020, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown introduced a postal banking bill that involves the creation of digital currency housed at the Federal Reserve, which could be accessed at post offices nationwide.


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