Industry watchers are hoping Congress can get postal reform bills moving even as the Bush administration seems to be hardening its position in at least one key area.
Earlier this month, the administration reiterated its opposition to transferring to the Treasury Department the costs of retirement benefits related to military service, according to news reports.
“This is a way for the administration to put more heat on Congress to pass a bill without them having to do anything,” said Gene Del Polito, president of the Association for Postal Commerce.
Charlie Howard, vice president of postal affairs at Harte-Hanks, echoed this sentiment, remarking that this “was the only card Bush has to play” at this moment on the postal reform issue.
In 2003, when the Office of Personnel Management discovered that the USPS was set to overpay its contributions to this fund by more than $70 billion, the mailing industry lobbied hard to get a law passed to have Treasury pick up the tab.
But the law that eventually was passed — P.L. 108-18 — put the money the postal service would save into an escrow account rather than just letting the USPS have it to pay down its debt and hold off rate increases. On Jan. 1, the escrow provision expired, putting things at square one. (Direct Newsline, Feb. 1).
At present, postal reform bills have been introduced in both the House and Senate. The House bill (H.R. 22), sponsored by Rep. John McHugh (R-NY), has already been marked up by the House Government Reform Committee.
Hearings on the Senate bill (S 662), sponsored by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), began this month in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. After that, a House/Senate Conference Committee would likely be convened to iron out differences between the two measures.
Del Polito hoped Collins’ bill would be marked up by Memorial Day.
“It damn well better be,” he said, putting the odds at 30 to 70 that a bill would pass this year. “The longer we wait, it’s less likely we’ll get that any meaningful postal reform this year.”
Ellenor Kirkconnell, assistant director of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers, also hoped the Senate bill would be marked up by the end of May. She dismissed the administration’s stance on the escrow and military pensions issues saying that a postal reform bill would supersede it.
Bob McLean, executive director of the Mailers Council, was optimistic about both bills’ prospects this year, noting that H.R. 22 already has 150 co-sponsors.
“We’ve only got eight in the Senate but that’s because the bill hasn’t been marked up yet,” he says.
Co-sponsorship indicates that a Congress member would vote for the bill. “And the more co-sponsors you have, the more likely your bill is to get onto the floor,” said McLean.
In addition to eliminating the escrow account, the marked-up House bill seeks to provide:
*SEC-like reporting, the same type of public accounting required of firms by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
*Salary cap flexibility, providing the USPS with a more efficient process for awarding bonuses to employees.
*Modernized rate regulation
*Combining of market disciplines with regulation
*Limitations on the postal monopoly and nonpostal products
*Reform of international mail regulation
Network
