The shift of power in the U.S. Senate to Democrat from Republican is not expected to create any problems for the mailing industry or the U.S. Postal Service, said several industry officials.
Democrats gained control of the Senate last week, 50-49, after Vermont Senator James A. Jeffords bolted from the Republican party to become an Independent. Jefford’s action opened the door for Democrats to take over the chairmanship of 13 key committees, including the Governmental Affairs Committee with oversight over USPS operations and finances.
Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman, currently the ranking minority member of the Governmental Affairs Committee is expected to replace Senator Fred Thompson as chairman.
Two weeks ago at one of its postal oversight hearings, the panel heard renewed calls for legislation reforming the USPS from then-Postmaster General William J. Henderson, who leaves office at the end of the week; Robert Rider, chairman of the postal service’s Board of Governors, and from top industry officials.
A day later they repeated their calls for postal reform legislation at the House Government Reform Committee’s annual postal oversight hearing.
“Some in both Washington and the industry think that Lieberman will be more inclined to favor postal reform than Thompson was,” said postal consultant Bill Hoyt.
Gene Del Polito, Association for Postal Commerce president, noting that “there’s a lot of direct marketing and direct mail businesses located in Connecticut,” predicted that Lieberman, as Government Affairs Committee chairman “would be pretty responsive to the legitimate concerns mailers have about the postal system.”
“I think he will deal with the issues fairly and realizes that the postal service is an important part of the American infrastructure,” he added.
It was noted, however, that over the last half dozen years the Senate has left the initiation of any postal reform legislation up to the House Government Reform Committee.
There was no immediate comment from postal officials.
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