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Postal Reform

   

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 Senators Postal Reform Bill (pdf)

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Stakeholders backing Senate chief's postal overhaul legislation

 

Postal Reform Legislation Introduced in Senate (apwu)

E-NAPUS Legislative Newsletter (PDF)

 Magic City News

 

Govexec

 

 Postmasters League

 

Pitney Bowes

 

 Federal Times

 

 Mailer Groups Upbeat

 
 House Passes Postal Reform Bill

Davis, McHugh: House Delivers Overwhelming Victory on Postal Reform
Approves Bill to Ensure Solvency of U.S. Postal Service
(7/26/05)


Mail Handlers: White House Demands Would Bankrupt Postal Service, Harm

 Employees -The White House presented a series of demands to Congress on postal reform that would strangle collective bargaining and force the USPS into a death spiral of higher rates and lower volume.  APWU: White House Demands Major Changes to Postal Bill - The White House  demands include increase flexibility on worksharing; reduce benefits of postal workers injured on the job and other provisions. The  Bush Administration threatened to veto any bill that does not satisfy these demands. 

 


House Rules Committee Approves Four Amendments for Consideration to Postal Overhaul Bill-(APWU ) The committee rejected consideration of an amendment to H.R. 22, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, that would have severely limited the benefits of injured workers after postal unions asked their members to contact their representatives and urge them to vote against such an amendment. (7/26)

 

- Committee Action and Full Text of amendments

- White House Floating Compromise On Postal Overhaul Bill | Comments (58)

- APWU: House Rules Committee Reject OWCP Amendment!

- Summary of Amendments Submitted to the Rules Committee on H.R. 22

- APWU Urges Opposition to Amendment To Limit Rights of Injured Workers

- Mailers Hopeful as House May Take Up Postal Reform Bill

- House to Consider Postal Overhaul Bill Next Week

- eNAPUS Newsletter : H.R. 22 Slated for Tuesday Vote 

- NAPS: White House Seeking Additional Reforms to Postal Bill 

- Letter: NALC, NRLCA Presidents Urge Support of Postal Reform Bill (pdf)
- Return to Sender | Congress Has Loaded Agenda This Week

Postal Reform Legislation Introduced in Senate  on March 17, 2005

Senate  Rescheduled Postal Reform Hearing:  The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will hold a public hearing on Thursday, April 14, 2005, at 2:00 p.m. in Room SD-342 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, titled: "U.S. Postal Service: What is Needed to Ensure its Future Viability?" A mark-up of the bill by the Committee will soon follow. A variety of amendments -- including those advocated by individual Committee members, the Bush administration and various interest groups -- will be debated at that time.

NAPUS eNewsletter: CBO Slashes Cost of Postal Reform Bill by $4.5 Billion (pdf)
On Monday (April 25, 2005), the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its estimate that enactment of the Postal Enhancement and Accountability Act (H.R. 22) would have a 10-year cost of $4.5 billion less than last year’s legislation. (A similar reduction is anticipated for S. 662.) Nonetheless, CBO projected that H.R. 22 would still reduce federal revenue by $5.9 billion. This “cost” is attributable primarily to eliminating the CSRS escrow account. Beginning in 2006, the account would contain USPS Civil Service Retirement System overpayments. Since the USPS would not overpay the U.S. Treasury, the correction counts as revenue lost by the government and would raise the federal budget deficit.

- CBO 2005 Cost Estimate: H.R. 22 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (pdf)


APWU: White House Continues Opposition to Key Provisions of Postal Reform Bills-"One proposal, endorsed at the hearing by both Potter  and Walker, would make postal workers' healthcare and retirement benefits, which are currently guaranteed by law, "negotiable" in the collective bargaining process. Another, suggested by Walker, called for adjustments to the wage standards used in contract negotiations." Neither of the two proposals is included in the pending legislation


 

White House adamantly opposed to Senate postal bill- Senate supporters of postal overhaul legislation contend they have changed their bill to accommodate White House concerns, but administration officials say they are not budging from their opposition because several benefit provisions are still too expensive. During his testimony, Treasury official Timothy S. Bitsberger said the Postal Service has obscured "the real reason" for the proposed rate hike. "The reality is that any additional financial requirements of the Postal Service can be directly attributed to its inability to sufficiently reduce its costs," Bitsberger said. He noted USPS covers a higher percentage of its employees' health benefits than most government agencies

Postal Reform bill goes to full House; Senate mark-up set


Panel

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee

Timothy S. Bitsberger , Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Markets , U.S. Department of the Treasury

Accompanied by: Roger Kodat , Deputy Assistant Secretary for Government Financial Policy , U.S. Department of the Treasury

Dan G. Blair , Acting Director , U. S. Office of Personnel Management

John E. Potter , Postmaster General , United States Postal Service ,

David M. Walker , Comptroller General of the United States , United States Government Accountability Office


Summary of Collins-Carper Postal Accountability And Enhancement Act Of 2005

  • Preserves universal and affordable mail service.

 

  • Preserves the USPS that employs more than 750,000 career employees and is the linchpin of a $900 billion mailing industry that employs up to 11 million Americans in fields as diverse as direct mailing, printing, catalog production, paper manufacturing, and financial services.

 

  • Grants the Postal Service Board of Governors the authority to set rates for competitive products like Express Mail and Parcel Post, as long as these prices do not result in cross subsidy from market-dominant products.  Establishes a 30-day prior review period during which the proposed rate changes shall be reviewed by the Postal Regulatory Commission.

 

  • Replaces the current lengthy and litigious rate-setting process with a rate cap-based structure for market-dominant products such as First-Class Mail, periodicals and library mail.  Price changes for market-dominant products would be subject to a 45-day prior review period by the Postal Regulatory Commission.

 

  • Introduces new safeguards against unfair competition by the Postal Service in competitive markets.  Subsidization of competitive products by market-dominant products would be expressly forbidden, and an equitable allocation of institutional costs to competitive products would be required.

 

  • Transforms the existing Postal Rate Commission into the Postal Regulatory Commission with greatly enhanced authority to ensure that the Postal Service management has greater latitude and stronger oversight.  Among other things, the Postal Regulatory Commission will have the authority to regulate rates for non-competitive products and services; ensure financial transparency; establish limits on the accumulation of retained earnings by the Postal Service; obtain information from the Postal Service, if need be, through the use of new subpoena power; and review and act on complaints filed by those who believe the Postal Service has exceeded its authority. 
  •  
  • Requires the Postal Service to file with the Postal Regulatory Commission certain Securities and Exchange Commission financial disclosure forms, along with detailed annual reports on the status of the Postal Service’s pension and postretirement health obligations in order to ensure increased financial transparency. 
  •  
  • Reaffirms USPS employees’ right to collectively bargain.  This bill only makes changes to the bargaining process that have been agreed to by both the Postal Service and the four major unions.  It replaces the rarely used fact-finding process with mediation, and shortens statutory deadlines for certain phases of the bargaining process. 

 

  • Protects the financial resources of the Postal Service by converting workers’ compensation benefits for total or partial disability to a retirement annuity when the affected employee reaches 65 years of age. 

 

  • Puts into place a three-day waiting period before an employee is eligible to receive 45 days of continuation of pay.  This is consistent with every state’s workers’ compensation program that requires a three- to seven-day waiting period before benefits are paid.

 

  • Supports the principle that workshare discounts, which enable customers to pay lower rates when they perform mail preparation or transportation activities, should generally not exceed the costs that the Postal Service avoids as a result of the worksharing activity.  However, the bill spells out certain circumstances under which workshare discounts in excess of avoided costs are warranted.

 

  • Repeals a provision of Public Law 108-18 which requires that money owed to the Postal Service due to an overpayment into the Civil Service Retirement System Fund be held in an escrow account, which would essentially “free up” $78 billion over a period of 60 years.  These savings would be used to not only pay off debt to the U.S. Treasury and to fund health care liabilities, but also to mitigate rate increases. 

 

  • Returns to the Department of Treasury the responsibility for funding CSRS pension benefits relating to the military service of postal retirees.  No other agency is required to make this payment. 

 The Collins-Carper postal reform legislation is endorsed by the National Association of Postmasters of the United States, National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, National Association of Postal Supervisors, Financial Services Roundtable, and the Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service, which represents thousands of the major mailers, employee groups, small businesses, and other users of the mail. 

            The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held a series of eight hearings, including a joint hearing with the House, during which it reviewed the recommendations of the President’s Commission on the United States Postal Service.

Commentary

'The Bogeyman Doesn't Wear Brown'
Burrus: Hypocrisy Has No Bounds-
Debunking the Myths: USPS Operates at Disadvantage