Mailing groups were optimistic the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee’s unanimous passage of its postal reform bill would finally translate into legislation this year, even with a controversial amendment about ending postal worksharing discounts.
The bill, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, (S. 2468), was co-sponsored by Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Thomas Carper (D-DE).
“This is as far as we’ve ever gotten,” said Neal Denton, executive director of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers. “As one senator said, this is a once in a generation opportunity.”
“I think I can say that we’re very pleased that postal reform has passed both the House and Senate committees,” Jerry Cerasale, senior vice president of the Direct Marketing Association, told Direct Newsline. “With bipartisan support from both the House and Senate committees, I think that sends a message to Congress and I think there’s a better than 50% chance we’ll get a postal reform bill this year.”
Before the bill was voted on, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), vice chairman of the committee, added an amendment that would end postal worksharing discounts after four years.
According to the National Association of Postal Supervisors, the Lieberman amendment had been promoted by the American Postal Workers Union and small mailers.
“This amendment may have been offered as a way to get the APWU on board,” said Gene Del Polito, president of the Association for Postal Commerce, who was similarly pleased about the bill’s being voted out of committee.
Cerasale didn’t like the worksharing amendment either, though he said he agreed with Del Polito about Lieberman’s motives.
Del Polito said he hopes a House/Senate conference committee can meet by the end of July to reconcile differences between their two bills.
A similar measure passed the House Government Reform Committee last month (Direct Newsline, May 13).
Among other provisions, the Senate legislation would reform the rate-setting process and guarantee a higher degree of transparency to ensure fair treatment of customers, according to Sens. Collins and Carper.
In addition, the bill would repeal a provision requiring that money owed to the Postal Service due to an overpayment into the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) Fund be held in an escrow account.
Repealing this provision would free up $78 billion over a period of 60 years. The Postal Service would use these savings to pay off debt to the U.S. Treasury, fund health care liabilities, and mitigate rate increases. On this issue, Ceraale said he was worried that the USPS may have to make a double payment into the CSRS fund but downplayed it as a technical correction which the Senate panel did not have time to iron out before putting the bill to a Committee vote.
The Senate bill also would return to the Department of Treasury the responsibility for funding CSRS pension benefits relating to the military service of postal retirees.
Under the legislation, the USPS could raise stamp prices on letters and periodicals as long as the increase does not exceed the rate of inflation. A new Postal Regulatory Commission would monitor the rate changes and have 45 days to review the proposed price increase.
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