$15 billion in debt this year. a $329 million loss last quarter, a significant decline in mail volume, and now the u.s. postal service is warning it may have to default on some payments to the federal government. >> it is serious. like i said, our plan is to not pay the federal government that portion of the money. we will continue to pay the employees. we will continue to pay our suppliers. >> at issue is some $5.5 billion the postal service is required to prepay into an account for retiree health care benefits. donahoe says the postal service is the only agency public or private that is obligated by law to have the fund fully prepaid, and it's asking congress to lift the requirement. but even if congress complies, that's still not enough to fix the postal service's shaky finances. the postmaster general says they will announce next month 2,000