02/10/2017

House Panel Vows to Move Postal Reform Bill

The bill aims to save the USPS from financial ruin

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last week introduced a bipartisan bill to save the floundering U.S. Postal Service from financial ruin.

The bill (H.R. 756), introduced by Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-MD), addresses the Postal Service’s liability for retiree health benefits and allows the Postal Service to increase postal rates by 2.15 percent (or 1 cent for a First Class stamp) and make some additional reforms to increase its competitiveness.

“We’re actually going to get to the finish line and get a bill on the president’s desk,” Chaffetz said at a hearing last week. “We’re faced with 10 consecutive years of financial losses at the Postal Service, totaling some $62 billion. The United States Postal Service isn’t at a crossroad, it’s at THE crossroads. It’s up to this Congress to address the challenges facing the Postal Service, its customers, the businesses that rely on it, and the taxpayers who will bear the burden if we fail to act.”

Cummings said he is also optimistic that postal reform is about to happen. “The need for postal reform is as urgent as ever,” he said. “Fortunately, we also may be closer than ever to enacting reform.”

This article was provided to OSAE by The Power of A.