Texas Lawmakers Call for PRC Total Control of USPS
Texas lawmakers jumped into the postal reform fray last week by overwhelmingly approving a resolution calling for the Postal Rate Commission’s absolute control over the U.S. Postal Service. USPS’ present lack of accountability, according the document, deprives Texas of revenue.
The resolution, sponsored by Rep. Lon Burnam (D), asks Congress to pass legislation to make the PRC the “final approval authority” on all USPS domestic and international product and service rates in addition to “all non-postal business endeavors, including all products and services outside the scope of universal mail service.”
The legislation should also include giving the PRC the authority to subpoena and “examine all records and financial data prior to consideration of any postal rate increase or pricing action which could affect products also offered by private sector entities,” according to the resolution.
According to Burnam, the USPS “enjoys many marketplace advantages not available to private sector enterprises, including exemption from state and local taxes, fees and government regulations, which deprives Texas state and local governments of needed revenue and fees to offset the effect of USPS operations on highways, law enforcement and air quality.” Burnam did not estimate exactly how much money might be involved.
Burnam said the USPS “is accountable to no agency or branch of the federal government except the PRC, which does not have binding authority” over the USPS or its actions “relating to setting postal rates, entering new business sectors, or using surplus revenues from first class mail to subsidize enterprises that compete with the private sector.”
He noted, too, that the USPS has used recent surplus revenues, aggregating nearly $5 billion between 1995 and 1998, to expand its “non-postal related businesses, which have increased operating costs at the expense of improved service for the delivery of regular mail” to Texans.
There was no immediate comment from any member of the Texas Congressional delegation or the USPS.
