House Oversight Committee Will Hold Hearing To Examine Financial Viability of the Postal Service
The following is a press release from the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform:
GAO to release report at hearing on Postal Service business model
WASHINGTON – Chairman Edolphus “Ed” Towns (D-NY) today announced that the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will hold a hearing on Thursday, April 15, 2010, to examine the status of the Postal Service and recent reports on short and long-term strategies for the financial viability and stability of the United States Postal Service (USPS). The hearing titled: “Continuing to Deliver: An Examination of the Postal Service’s Current Financial Crisis and its Future Viability”. At the hearing, the Committee will examine three recent reports on the future of the Postal Service.
A report released recently by the USPS that studied possible scenarios for the Postal Service in 2020 will be examined. According to the report, under the most likely scenario and without changes to the current system, the Postal Service would continue to experience significant declines in mail volume from its peak in 2006 resulting in a $238 Billion shortfall over ten years. The report called for legislative action to address the shortfall, including allowing a five day delivery.
The Committee will also examine a January 2010 report by the Postal Service Inspector General which concluded that in the past 30 years the Postal Service has made $75 Billion in overpayments related to its Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). The study pointed to possible shortcomings in the formulas OPM used in calculating the Postal Service’s CSRS obligations for postal employees who worked before and after July 1, 1971.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) will release a report on the Postal Service’s business model at the hearing. GAO will be asked to explain the reasoning behind the report and the impact of its recommendations in reducing the Postal Service’s projected shortfall.
The witnesses invited to testify include:
The Hon. John E. Potter
Postmaster General and CEO
United States Postal Service
Mr. David Williams
Inspector General
United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General
Mr. John Berry
Director
Office of Personnel Management
Mr. Phillip Herr
Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues
United States Government Accountability Office
Ms. Ruth Goldway
Chairman
Postal Rate Commission
Mr. Daniel P. Mulhollan
Director
Congressional Research Service
Congressman Calls On USPS OIG to Investigate Delivery Disruption of New York State Pension Checks
Press Release from the Oversight and Government Reform
January 13, 2010
WASHINGTON – Chairman Edolphus “Ed” Towns today requested an investigation into an incident involving significant delays in the delivery of pension checks in New York. The Chairman is calling on David Williams, the United States Postal Service Inspector General, to investigate the thousands of pension checks that were placed in the mail on December 30, 2009 and should have been delivered on December 31, 2009 or January 2, 2010.
“The delivery delays have caused hardships for seniors who depend on their pension check to help make ends meet,” said Chairman Towns. “I intend to follow this investigation and I will get to the bottom of this incident.”
Chairman Towns asked the IG to provide a report to the Committee on their investigation by January 27, 2010.
Text of the letter is below.
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January 13, 2010
Mr. David Williams
Inspector General
U.S. Postal Service
1735 North Lynn Street
Washington, DC 22209-2020
Dear Mr. Williams,
I am writing to ask that you investigate an incident involving significant delays in the delivery of pension checks in New York. The Office of the State Comptroller of New York, by all accounts, properly entered mail into the postal system on December 30, 2009. This mail contained 60,000 pension checks which I understand should have been delivered on December 31, 2009 or January 1, 2010. Instead, thousands of the checks were misplaced and sent to other states, and the Postal Service only started delivering the misplaced checks to New York residents on January 11, 2010. The Postal Service is still trying to determine the location of some of the checks.
The delay has caused distress and hardship to thousands of senior citizens in New York and other states. The Comptroller has had to reissue thousands of checks and has been flooded with calls from retirees upset about the delay in receiving their anticipated pension payments.
I request that you investigate this incident and report to the Committee on:
1. The extent of the delays in delivery of the pension checks, including the number of checks that were delayed and the length of the delays.
2. The cause or causes of these delays.
3. Steps that the Postal Service is taking to resolve any outstanding problems with delivery of the affected checks.
4. Corrective measures that the Postal Service has implemented or will implement to ensure that such an incident does not occur again.
5. Recommendations for further actions to prevent such incidents in the future.
I request that you provide a report to the Committee on these issues by January 27, 2010.
Sincerely,
Edolphus Towns
Chairman