The Senate’s unanimously passed postal reform bill S. 662 Thursday morning.
The bill seeks to fundamentally remake the USPS for the first time since it came into being in 1970. It calls for: * Having the USPS offer market-competitive products. * Establishing a new more powerful Postal Regulatory Board to replace the current Postal Rate Commission. * Reworking some of the USPS’s arrangements with its employees and labor unions.
The Senate passed the long-awaited bill after the Senate and White House agreed to work on certain budgetary issues. The House-Senate Conference Committee will convene soon to work out differences between S. 662 and H.R. 22, which passed the House last summer by a 410-20 vote, according to Gene Del Polito, president of the Association for Postal Commerce.
Del Polito noted that this vote was also made possible after several senators removed holds they put on the bill. They were concerned with the measure’s impact on the federal deficit and its possible effect on small mailers who rely on first-class mail.
“We thank senators Susan Collins and Tom Carper for their tireless support of this landmark legislation,” said Bob McLean, executive director of the Mailers Council. “Today’s vote is a tribute to bipartisan congressional action and a united mailing community—mailers, unions and management associations—all fighting for a financially healthy Postal Service.”
McLean continued: “Both the House and Senate postal reform bills include rate caps limiting postage increases to the Consumer Price Index.”
Sen. Collins (R-ME), chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, is the chief sponsor of S. 662. Sen. Carper (D-DE) is the bill’s primary Democratic sponsor.
“While there are still issues that must be resolved in conference, this vote by the full Senate is a long-awaited and positive step on the road to postal reform,” said Jerry Cerasale, DMA’ s senior vice president for government affairs in a statement. “We look forward to working with Senate and House conferees, the Administration, and other interested stakeholders as we continue to push for the enactment of legislation this year.”
For at least six months, Sen. Christopher Bond (R-MO), a Committee member, had placed a hold on the bill because he thought it favored large mailers who use standard mail over those who rely on first class. These include Hallmark Cards, which is headquartered in Missouri (Direct Newsline, Jan. 26).
The other recently lifted hold reportedly came last month from Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) who was concerned about S. 662’s impact on the deficit.
Both senators lifted their holds after language in the bill was changed.
But the major stumbling block surrounding passage of this bill surrounds who would assume pay the more than $70 million worth of civil service and military pensions for former postal employees.
Over the past three years, laws has been passed and allowed to expire that would transfer responsibility for paying between the USPS and U.S. Treasury Dept. President Bush currently opposes saddling another federal agency with this burden because it might contribute to the federal deficit.
Even the USPS opposed S. 662. One thing it doesn’t like is a provision that replaces the current Postal Rate Commission with a larger Postal Regulatory Board with more sweeping powers.
To this end, Postmaster General Jack Potter and four USPS governors sent a letter on Jan. 24 to Sen. Susan Collins, the bill’s main sponsor opposing the measure. The letter cited discrepancies between S. 662 and the findings of the Presidential Commission, warning the bill might be vetoed for that reason.
The next day, Tom Day, USPS senior vice president for government relations, warned that the current bill—coupled with Bush’s apparent intransigence on the pensions issue—could increase stamp prices by 20% on top of rate increases to keep the USPS operating.
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