Postal Reform

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Postal Reform High Priority for New Congress

House Passes Postal Reform Bill - San Francisco Chronicle

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

Postal Reforms Are Too Modest

Free-market competitors such as FedEx and United Parcel Service have taken lots of business away from the post office, On top of that, the Postal Service has met resistance from its unionized workforce every time it tried to increase efficiency with new technology. ,,the House just approved a bill intended to save the Postal Service from what has been described as a “death spiral. But it doesn’t appear the reforms go far enough. Under the House bill, rate increases for products in which the post office dominates the market — such as letters and magazines — would not exceed the annual change in the Consumer Price Index. But the Postal Service would be given more pricing freedom for competitive products, such as parcel delivery. In other words, First Class mail could end up subsidizing those other services, even junk mail.

Postal Reform passes House under cloud of veto - Watertown Daily Times (NY)

After more than a decade of hearings, strained negotiations and rewrites, Rep. John M. McHugh's legislation to overhaul the U.S. Postal Service breezed through the House on Tuesday night in its farthest advance yet.

But the celebratory mood promises to be short. The White House, while praising the bill generally, threatened to veto it if key budget-related provisions are not changed.

"The Postal Service is far removed from what it was 35 years ago," said Mr. McHugh, R-Pierrepont Manor, referring to the last time Congress revamped the quasi-governmental agency.

Supporters say the bill will save the Postal Service from a financial "death spiral" brought on by the advent of electronic communications and decline of First Class letter mail, which has declined for three years in a row. It would hold stamp price increases generally to the rate of inflation but also give the Postal Service greater pricing flexibility for package delivery and other services that compete with companies such as United Parcel Service.

The Postal Service would maintain its monopoly on First Class mail, allowing delivery to continue six days a week to every address. Postal officials have said in recent years that Saturday mail delivery might be threatened if Congress does not help the Postal Service improve its finances. (7/28/05)
 

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.

 

- Postal Groups React:  NAPS | Rural Letter Carriers | NALC

- NAPUS  | League of Postmasters |   Pitney Bowes | RR Donnelley |

- Mailing Industry CEO Council | House Overwhelmingly Passes Postal Reform Bill
 - House Passes Postal Reform Bill | Postcom: H.R. 22 Passes House

- White House Floating Compromise On Postal Overhaul Bill

- Committee Action and Full Text of amendments

- White House Floating Compromise On Postal Overhaul Bill |

- 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
CBO Slashes Cost of Postal Reform Bill by $4.5 Billion (pdf)
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. (4/29/05)

CBO 2005 Cost Estimate: H.R. 22 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (pdf) (4/27/05)
Postal Reform Bill Moves Closer to House Vote
Davis, McHugh Praise Committee Action on Landmark Legislation

Washington, Apr 13 - The U.S. House of Representatives moved a step closer to enacting postal reform legislation this year, as H.R. 22, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, was passed unanimously out of the House Government Reform Committee today. The bill, introduced by Rep. John M. McHugh (R-NY) and Committee Chairman Tom Davis (R-VA), will modernize the U.S. Postal Service for the first time in more than 35 years and provide a structure to help it achieve future solvency.

“We have worked hard to produce a bill that delivers for the Postal Service – and for the millions of Americans who rely on the availability of universal mail service. This reform is vital both to the American economy and to the connectivity of the American people,” said McHugh. “In the 10 years that I have been working in Congress to enact postal reform, we have never had a more workable, effective piece of reform legislation on the table. Now that the Committee has put its stamp of approval on this great product, it is my hope that the bill will move quickly to the House floor for a vote.”

“Postal reform is not a luxury we cannot afford – it is a necessity we can no longer avoid,” said Davis. “The laws that govern our Postal Service are outdated and unsuited for today’s competitive environment. The last time Congress succeeded in tackling comprehensive postal reform was 1970; long before the Internet or competitors like FedEx. This bill represents our best chance at solving the structural, legal and financial constraints that have conspired to bring the Postal Service to the brink of catastrophe. We simply cannot fail to act.”

Since the bill’s introduction in January, Davis and McHugh have led a bipartisan effort to bring resolution to concerns raised by the Administration, Senate, and other key stakeholders. The changes approved in H.R. 22 today reflect this input, while preserving the major actions of the bill. Several of the key provisions added in a Manager’s Amendment to further refine the legislation include:

•SEC-like Reporting – requiring the Postal Service to file with the Postal Rate Commission (PRC) the same public financial statements and reports required of private companies by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

•Banking, Borrowing, and Investing – limiting the Postal Service’s Competitive Products Fund (which is created under the bill) to borrowing, banking, and investing from the Department of Treasury rather than from the private sector.

•Salary Cap Flexibility – ensuring a more efficient process for establishing the pre-approval required under the existing language regarding the Postal Service’s authority to offer bonuses to its employees that is consistent with similar performance incentive programs in other sectors, as well as authorize the Postal Service Board of Governors to compensate no more than a dozen senior executives at higher levels of pay than permitted under current law.

•Worksharing – conforming the House bill to the Senate bill, which eliminates the House bill’s five-year limit on new worksharing discounts that exceed the costs avoided by the Postal Service due to mailer preparation and transportation.

“Without action by both the House and Senate, we will see the Postal Service continue in what’s been termed a ‘death spiral,’ with raising rates its only option for fiscal survival,” McHugh added. “This bill provides tools to enable the postal service to be a viable, competitive participant in the often-changing communications marketplace – and also significantly reduce the amount by which rates need to be raised.”

The major provisions of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act remain:

•Modern Rate Regulation – shifting the basis of the Postal Rate Commission from a costly, complex scheme of rate cases to a modern system designed to ensure that rate increases generally do not exceed the annual change in the Consumer Price Index. This applies only to market-dominant products (letters, periodicals, advertising mail) because the Postal Service is provided with different pricing freedom for its competitive products (Express Mail, Priority Mail, etc.).

•Combining Market Disciplines with Regulation – combining market mechanisms with Commission regulation to govern the rates of competitive products. The Postal Service would be given additional pricing freedom but would lose favored legal treatment for such products.

•Limitations on Postal Monopoly and Nonpostal Products – requiring the Postal Service to only offer postal services and for the first time defining exactly what constitutes “postal services.” The bill also revises the authority of the Postal Service to regulate competitors.

•Reform of International Mail Regulation – clarifying the authority of the State Department to set international policy and applying customs laws equally to postal and private shipments.

•Strengthening of the Commission – giving the PRC “teeth” by granting it subpoena power and a broader scope for regulation and oversight. The PRC would be renamed the “Postal Regulatory Commission.”

•Establish a Basis for Future Reforms – mandating several studies, including a comprehensive assessment of the scope and standards for universal services.

•Miscellaneous Reforms – including returning the responsibility for the military service cost of Postal retirees to the Treasury Department, while also requiring the Postal Service to significantly fund its enormous liability for retiree health benefits.

Panel Backs Postal Service Overhaul As Rate Hike Looms (Govexec- 4/13/05)

Postal Reform Back On Congressional Agenda

(This article was first published in the March/April 2005 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine)

Rep. John McHugh (R-NY) did not waste any time introducing postal reform legislation when the 109th Congress got under way: On Jan. 4 he introduced H.R. 22, a postal reform bill that is very similar to legislation approved last year by the House Government Reform Committee.

We also expect a postal reform bill to be introduced soon in the Senate, where legislation very similar to the House measure was approved last year by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee.

Last year the House and Senate committees unanimously approved their respective bills, but neither was put up for a floor vote because of the Bush administration’s opposition to two key provisions.

One provision would allow the Postal Service to net billions of dollars by allowing it to spend the results of years of overpayments to the Civil Service Retirement Fund – money being held in an escrow savings account until Congress decides how it should be spent. A second provision would return to the Treasury Department the responsibility for paying for the military service-related portion of USPS workers’ retirement benefits.

Supporters of the new legislation are pushing for enactment before April, which is when the USPS must file for permission to raise postage rates in 2006. The mailing industry is concerned that if the administration’s position does not change, a substantial rate increase is likely.

Postal Reform a High Priority for New Congress
Davis, Colleagues Reintroduce Landmark Legislation to Overhaul Failing Postal Service


Washington, Jan 5, 2005-


In an effort to modernize our nation’s postal laws for the first time in 35 years, Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis (R-VA) and Rep. John M. McHugh (R-NY) are putting postal reform legislation back on the table in the 109th Congress. Davis and McHugh, along with Ranking Minority Member Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL), have reintroduced H.R. 22, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. The legislation was originally crafted by the bipartisan team last year, providing well-refined tools to ensure that the U.S. Postal Service can adapt and survive in the competitive communications marketplace of the 21st Century.

“Since the Postal Service is hampered by a legal framework that is outdated and unsuited for today’s competitive environment, the Postal Service is facing a bleak and uncertain future. First-class mail volume is declining while the number of addresses is increasing, and the Postal Service has but one mechanism – raising rates – to make up the difference between its falling revenues and rising costs,” said Chairman Davis. “Observers have likened this to a ‘death spiral,’ where declining business leads to higher rates, which in turn leads to a further decline in business, and so on, and so on, and so on. We simply cannot fail to act. Postal reform is not a luxury we cannot afford – it is a necessity we can no longer avoid.”

“When the Government Reform Committee reported this bill to the House floor last year, we marked the most significant progress for postal reform in 10 years,” said McHugh. “I am thrilled to reintroduce this solid piece of legislation, which will not only ensure the survival of our postal service, but also help preserve universal service at affordable rates for the American mailing consumer. We’ve bridged many divides in reaching this point, and I am confident that all parties involved will succeed in supporting this $900 billion industry and its nine million jobs. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Government Reform Committee and with our counterparts in the Senate to ensure that postal reform becomes reality in early 2005.”

H.R. 22 is identical to the postal reform bill that passed the Government Reform Committee last year by a vote of 40-0, with several minor modifications. The new legislation:

·Incorporates amendments approved by the House Judiciary Committee in September 2003, which remove the bankruptcy protection for USPS and make Judiciary-recommended revisions to language regarding postal police officers and prohibitions on mailing hazardous materials.
·Corrects a technical problem with the original legislation regarding the Postal Service’s payment for its retiree health benefits that, if left uncorrected, could have resulted in the Postal Service double paying more than $500 million in required payments for fiscal year 2006.


·Modifies the role of the Inspector General (IG) in the new regulator’s annual postal audit by no longer mandating a duplicative annual review by the IG.


·Ensures the continued existence of the “Within County Periodicals” subclass of mail, upon which community newspapers are dependent.


·Makes a variety of other assorted technical modifications to the bill, including updating of various effective dates for 2005.

H.R. 22 reflects input, feedback, and deep discussion from citizens, major mailers, the Postal Service, competitors, employee organizations, and many others. Overall, the major provisions of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act remain the same as the version introduced last year:

·Modern Rate Regulation – shifting the basis of the Postal Rate Commission from a costly, complex scheme of rate cases to a modern system designed to ensure that rate increases generally do not exceed the annual change in the Consumer Price Index. This applies only to market-dominant products (e.g., letters, periodicals, advertising mail) because the Postal Service is provided with different pricing freedom for its competitive products (e.g., Express Mail, Priority Mail, etc.).

·Combining Market Disciplines with Regulation – combining market mechanisms with Commission regulation to govern the rates of competitive products. The Postal Service would be given additional pricing freedom but would lose favored legal treatment for such products.

·Limitations on Postal Monopoly and Nonpostal Products – requiring the Postal Service to only offer postal services and for the first time defining exactly what constitutes “postal services.” The bill also revises the authority of the Postal Service to regulate competitors.

·Reform of International Mail Regulation – clarifying the authority of the State Department to set international policy, applying customs laws equally to postal and private shipments, and giving the Postal Service the authority to contract with airlines for transport of international mail.

·Strengthening of the Commission – giving the Postal Rate Commission “teeth” by granting it subpoena power and a broader scope for regulation and oversight. The PRC would be renamed the “Postal Regulatory Commission.”

·Establish a Basis for Future Reforms – mandating several studies, including a comprehensive assessment of the scope and standards for universal postal services.

·Miscellaneous Reforms – including returning the responsibility for the military service cost of certain postal retirees to the Treasury Department, while also requiring the Postal Service to significantly fund its enormous liability for retiree health benefits.

Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act- Reintroduced House bill January 4, 2005 (pdf ) 145 pgs.

 

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