GOP Congressmen Seek USPS Rule Making Authority Review
Six Republican members of Congress are again asking for a Justice Department ruling on the authority of the U.S. Postal Service to arbitrarily impose new rules and regulations on its competitors without weighing the effects they may have on them.
At issue are the highly controversial regulations the USPS imposed on Commercial Mail Receiving Agencies (CMRA’s) that are used by hundreds of direct marketers, mass-mailers and mail monitoring companies to ensure that their mailing lists are not being pirated or misused. The regulations also track the USPS’ delivery performance.
Specifically, the congressmen said they wanted to know if the USPS and other federal agencies with regulatory powers “must have the legislative authority” to impose rules and regulations on their competitors; if the agency must have “a firm factual basis” for any proposed regulatory action; and if the USPS has “an enforceable obligation” to consider the impact of any of the rules and regulations it adopts on its competitors.
Although the USPS contends tight new controls on CMRA’s are necessary to combat mail fraud and identity theft, Karla Corcoran, its Inspector General, said in an April report that the USPS failed to justify the tough new rules it imposed on private mailbox companies.
“The Postal Service did not demonstrate the need for regulatory change by presenting statistical or scientific data to support its claims of mail fraud conducted through private mailboxes,” Corcoran’s report said. “In addition, it did not show how the regulations would curb fraud, assess the impact on [private mail] receiving agencies and private [mailbox] holders, or consider alternatives to revising the rules.”
The six, citing Corcoran’s findings, asked Attorney General John Ashcroft to reiterate its historical “support” for fundamental competition-protecting principles” because “millions of small business people depend upon the Department to do so by clearly warning against unfounded, repressive and anti-competitive regulations.”
Reps. Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland, Phil Crane of Illinois, W. Van Hilleary of Tennessee, David McIntosh of Indiana, Ron Paul of Texas and Todd Tiahrt of Kansas, made their request last week in a letter to Ashcroft.
They noted in the letter that their first request, made in October, fell by the wayside with the change of administrations and the attorney general.
