Mailer groups were generally pleased at reports the Senate postal reform bill S. 662 was finally going to move forward after months of delay.
According to industry sources, the Senate was poised Wednesday to begin taking up S. 662, which had been held up for several months by Sen. Christopher Bond (R-MO) over “fair and equitable” language and other provisions.
[At deadline, it was not clear the vote would take place Wednesday since the Senate was also considering the confirmation of Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court].
“This is an incredibly important day for the Mailers Council and our continuing quest for postal reform,” said Bob McLean, executive director of the organization.
“This is a good starting-off point,” said Gene Del Polito, president of the Association for Postal Commerce. “If people don’t like everything they can always try to change it later.”
Reportedly, an agreement had been struck between Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and Committee member Christopher Bond (R-MO) that would allow the full Senate to vote on the bill.
Del Polito said the ‘fair and equitable’ language in the bill was changed to ‘just and reasonable,’ which means that people would be less able to make frivolous challenges in the measure.
Last fall, Bond put a hold on the bill, believing it would mainly help corporate mailers -who overwhelmingly use standard mail–at the expense of people and companies that use first class mail. Hallmark Cards, which uses a lot of first class postage, is headquartered in Missouri.
But there are other complications.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Postal Service on Tuesday registered it opposition to S. 662 in a letter it sent out to Collins, signed by Postmaster General John E. Potter and several other governors and officials.
In the letter, the USPS said it “believes there are critical elements missing from this bill, as well as numerous burdensome provisions that would make it extremely difficult for the Postal Service to function in am order, competitive environment.”
“The postal service is just whistling in the wind with its complaints,” said Del Polito.
If the Senate takes up S. 662, it would do so under unanimous consent provisions, which don’t allow for any further debate.
If passed, the bill would then go to a House-Senate Conference Committee, which would try to reconcile differences between S. 62 and H.R. 22, the House version that passed the House last June by a 410-20 margin.
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