Sen. Carper Statement on Rep. Issa’s Postal Reform Act
WASHINGTON – Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security, released a statement in response to the introduction of the Postal Reform Act by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Sen. Carper introduced the Postal Operations Sustainment and Transformation (POST) Act last month.
“While I welcome Congressman Issa’s interest in finding solutions to the Postal Service’s serious financial challenges, I, unfortunately, have deep concerns about the approach taken in the legislation put forward today,” said Sen. Carper. “This bill appears to assume that the Postal Service will undergo a complete financial collapse in the coming months. Instead of preventing a catastrophic collapse from happening, this bill would abdicate responsibility for cleaning up what would be a colossal financial disaster both for the Postal Service and the broader economy to a newly-created government entity. This is unacceptable. No practical solution for the Postal Services’ serious financial woes should allow them to go belly up and jeopardize our fragile economic recovery, along with the jobs of some 7 million employees in the mailing industry who depend on a healthy Postal Service.
“We know what needs to happen to put the Postal Service on the right path. Congress just needs to have the courage to do what is necessary to make that happen. Namely, Congress needs to stop acting like a 535-member Board of Directors – each protecting their individual parochial prerogatives – and finally give the Postal Service the freedom and flexibility we always say they should have to make the tough, but necessary, businesses decisions needed to survive and even thrive in the long term. We are just beginning the process of finding a legislative solution to the Postal Service’s problems, but we must act quickly to address this dire situation. I look forward to working with Congressman Issa and Senator Collins to find common ground on this issue.”
Rep. Issa’s Bill: A Reckless Attack On Postal Services, Postal Employees
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the powerful chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has introduced a bill, H.R. 2309, that is “a reckless assault on postal workers and the Postal Service,” said APWU President Cliff Guffey.
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“The bill would drastically reduce service to the American people by establishing a commission that would order $1 billion worth of post office closures in the first year and $1 billion worth of facility closures in the second year,” he said.
“Incredibly, it fails to address the main cause of the Postal Service’s financial difficulties — the unique mandate that requires the USPS to pre-fund the healthcare benefits of future retirees, at a cost of more than $5.5 billion per year,” Guffey said.
“It also completely ignores the fact that the USPS has massive surpluses in its pension accounts,” the union president noted. “The overpayments could and should be used to resolve the Postal Service’s cash crisis.”
Direct Attack on Workers
“The bill is a direct attack on the hard-working men and women who sort and distribute the nation’s mail,” Guffey said.
It would create a “solvency authority” with the power to unilaterally modify collective bargaining agreements any time the USPS defaults on “any obligation to the federal government for more than 30 days.”
“The solvency board would be empowered to cut wages, abolish benefits, and end our protection against layoffs,” he said.
In addition, at the expiration of the current collective bargaining agreements, the bill would increase employees’ costs for healthcare coverage and life insurance, and eliminate the right to bargain over these benefits. It also would allow the USPS to end Saturday delivery.
Propagating a Falsehood
“Rep. Issa insists that the legislation is designed to avoid a ‘bailout,’ but nothing could be further from the truth,” Guffey said.
“In fact, the federal government is holding billions of dollars of excess postal payments to FERS and CSRS.” (The USPS has a surplus of $6.9 billion in its Federal Employee Retirement System account, and, according to two independent actuarial studies, has overpaid the Civil Service Retirement System account by $50 billion to $75 billion.)
“The Postal Service does not rely on taxpayer funding,” he noted, “and doesn’t need a bailout.”
Act Now
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“We are continuing to analyze details of the bill,” said Legislative and Political Director Myke Reid. “We are working with legislators and their staffs, as well as with other unions and postal organizations, and will provide additional information as events warrant.”
“In the meantime, union members must make it clear to their U.S. representatives that we adamantly oppose this bill.
“We must let them know that we support an alternate bill, H.R. 1351, which would address the cause of the USPS financial crisis without slashing service and without eliminating collective bargaining rights,” he said.
H.R. 1351, which was introduced by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) on April 4, would correct the overfunding of the pension accounts, and would allow the cash-strapped agency to use the pension surplus to meet its retiree health benefits pre-funding obligation.
“H.R. 1351 would restore financial stability to the Postal Service,” Guffey said, “without putting any burden on American taxpayers.”
source: American Postal Workers Union
NALC: Issa Misguided, Draconian Postal Reform Bill Is a Missed Opportunity
Representative Issa introduces draconian postal reform bill
Misguided bill is ‘a missed opportunity,’ Rolando says
June 23, 2011 — Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL), chairman of the committee’s subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service and District of Columbia, introduced a comprehensive postal reform bill today in the House of Representatives. Sadly, it fails to address the central cause of the financial crisis facing the Postal Service—the destructive and unique mandate to massively pre-fund future retiree health benefits that accounts for 100 percent of the Postal Service’s losses over the past four years. Instead, the bill proposes radical changes that would recklessly downsize the U.S. Postal Service in a way that would seriously damage the $1.3 trillion mailing industry and the entire U.S. economy.
“We are very disappointed in the Issa/Ross bill,” NALC President Fredric V. Rolando said. “We hoped for a more common sense, practical and non-ideological approach to an institution that has historically engendered strong bipartisan support. Instead, we got a draconian downsizing plan and a misguided and unjustifiable attack on hard-working postal employees who provide the most affordable and highest quality mail service in the world.”
Rather than taking sensible action to avert a financial crisis that would result from the failure of the Postal Service to make the next unaffordable $5.5 billion pre-funding payment for future retiree health benefits (due in September), the bill seeks to take advantage of the pending cash crisis to force a massive downsizing and to launch a frontal assault on the pay, benefits and collective bargaining rights of postal employees. Indeed, it fails to even mention the massive surpluses in the Postal Service pension accounts that two private, independent auditors have confirmed over the past two years—surpluses that can and should be used to resolve the financial crisis caused by the pre-funding mandate.
Under the Issa/Ross plan, tens if not hundreds of thousands of good middle-class jobs, many of them filled for decades by military veterans, would be needlessly destroyed.
The core of the bill is the creation of two unelected groups authorized to take extreme steps to cut costs and reduce services, one to generate lists of post offices and facilities to be closed and one to serve as financial overseers with the power to alter or nullify collective bargaining agreements and to make other operational decisions to reduce expenses. The Board of Governors and Congress would be effectively marginalized under the bill.
The bill would allow the Postal Service to eliminate Saturday delivery—inconveniencing millions of residents and businesses—and would repeal the right of postal employees to bargain over health and life insurance benefits, a right won more than 40 years ago. It would also inject political issues into the process for resolving collective bargaining impasses and unfairly restructure interest arbitrations by giving pro-management factors top priority in the law.
“It seems the war on collective bargaining that we have seen in the states has come to Washington,” Rolando said.
NALC is in the process of studying the lengthy Issa/Ross bill in detail. Meanwhile, the union will continue to work with the Obama administration and with leaders in the Senate from both parties to develop more moderate and sensible solutions to the Postal Service’s problems.
We will also seek to work with Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) and the bipartisan group of 153 other co-sponsors of his bill, H.R. 1351, to make progress in the House of Representatives. H.R. 1351 would allow the USPS to use its pension surpluses to cover its pre-funding costs, thereby resolving the immediate financial crisis without collateral damage.
“We regret very much that Representatives Issa and Ross have taken this approach. We view it as a missed opportunity,” President Rolando said. “Historically, the constitutionally mandated Post Office has been an issue that has been spared the destructive impact of partisan politics. We remain hopeful that a more reasonable, bipartisan bill can be developed in the House using H.R. 1351 as the starting point.”
source: National Association Of Letter Carriers
Letter: Issa Postal Reform Bill Will Put Many Americans Out of Work Including Military Vets
Filed under: postal, postal news, postal reform, usps, veterans
Letter To Congressman Darrell Issa from postal employee Guy Nohrenberg
Rep. Darrell Issa
June 23, 2011
Money is being taken from the US Postal Service as a hidden additional Tax.
The wealthiest Congressman in History continues his terrorist attack on the US Postal Service through trying to add an additional government bill, “The Postal Reform Act of 2011″. What is it? It is another expensive government paid committee intended to destroy the nations largest civilian employer.
The US Postal Service is not being harmed by reduction of mail volume, fax, email, or any of that other elitist inspired propaganda. It can manage through mail fluctuations and always has. It’s being harmed by an additional hidden tax that this congressman and his ilk have imposed upon the US Postal Service. The US Postal Service is the employer of people you know, love and are related to. This Congressman has a strange fetish against the US Postal Service and he regularly bullies it in an effort to eliminate it.
So he wants more unemployment? His “Postal Reform Act of 2011″ will place over a million Americans out of work. Isn’t it bad enough that Post Offices in small towns are closing by the minute, against the desires of the local communities losing them and that you have to drive further just to mail packages and scented letters to loved ones overseas.
The US Postal Service employs a significantly high percentage of Military Veterans. Many are from his own district. This Congressman has continually assaulted the US Postal Service, with misinformation and propaganda. He’s even subversively trying to divert attention from the honest efforts underway to stop his hidden additional tax of $5.5 Billion Dollars each year.
read full letter to Rep. Darrell Issa
USPS Statement on Legislation Introduced by Rep. Darrell Issa
Filed under: postal, postal news, postal reform, press releases, usps
We thank House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) for introducing the Postal Reform Act of 2011 and look forward to working with him as the bill makes its way through the legislative process.
While there are several provisions in the bill that we agree with, the bill appears to be based on the assumption that the Postal Service’s challenges result from too little regulation. The opposite is true. Our financial instability is the result of dramatic loss in volumes, coupled with restrictions imposed by Congress that have prevented the Postal Service from adequately responding to those losses in a business-like fashion.
We strongly oppose a provision in the bill that provides for an additional $10 billion in borrowing authority from the U.S. Treasury. The Postal Service does not need to incur additional debt — we need the money back that is already owed to us. We also strongly oppose sections of the bill that would create more government bureaucracy and slow our progress on streamlining our operations.
Also, we are disappointed that Rep. Issa’s bill does not address core issues that Congress needs to address to enable the Postal Service to return to financial stability, including the need to:
- Eliminate the current mandates requiring retiree health benefit pre-payments, which costs the Postal Service $5.5 billion annually.
- Allow the Postal Service to access Civil Service Retirement System and Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) overpayments. The FERS overpayment is estimated to be $6.9 billion.
We are pleased that the bill recognizes the need for a change in delivery frequency. The bill’s provision to move to five-day delivery would save the Postal Service $3.1 billion annually.
The need for legislative change is urgent. Despite significant and ongoing cost cutting actions and progress on new revenue generation, the Postal Service is in danger of running out of cash as early as this October.
ABM Says Issa Postal Bill Includes Potentially Damaging Provision for Its Members
The American Business Media released the following statement:
Just hours ago, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Chairman of the House Committee with jurisdiction over postal matters, introduced legislation that would implement sweeping, structural reforms of the United States Postal Service. ABM immediately obtained and reviewed the bill in detail; while it includes some provisions ABM has advocated for, it also includes a potentially-damaging provision for ABM members.
As written, the legislation would require an annual 5% increase for all “underwater” postal products, on top of annual CPI increases, until the product covers at least 90% of its attributable costs. Given the current data on periodical cost coverage and the anticipated CPI increases, this provision would likely result in a more than 20% increase in postal rates over the next three years for ABM members. This provision is simply untenable, and over the last few hours, ABM has already begun to mobilize its resources and align with allies to fight it.
As you may know, over the last two years, ABM has advocated for postal reform measures in Washington both as an association and as an Executive Committee member of the Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service. In these efforts, ABM has sought a legislative solution that would address structural issues at USPS, fix the overpayment of its pension system, and put the Postal Service on a stable path for long-term viability. As the financial situation at USPS has worsened, these efforts have grown more critical.
We are already leveraging ABM’s coalitions and contacts to address this issue on your behalf, and we will continue to update you as developments warrant.
Regards,
Clark Pettit
President & CEO
American Business Media
Congressman Issa Introduces Postal Reform Act
Filed under: politics, postal, postal news, postal reform, press releases, usps
WASHINGTON- Seeking to prevent another taxpayer bailout, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, introduced today legislation to implement sweeping, structural reforms of the United States Postal Service (USPS). The legislation represents the most fundamental reform of the postal service that has been proposed since USPS was first created from the old Post Office Department.
“The Postal Service lost $8.5 billion last year. It is going to lose, at least, $8.3 billion this year. And it is projected to lose $8.5 billion the year after that,” Issa said. “Congress can’t keep kicking the can down the road on out of control labor costs and excess infrastructure of USPS and needs to implement reforms that aren’t a multi-billion dollar taxpayer funded bailout.” Read more
Sen. Carper Introduces Comprehensive Postal Service Act
Bill to address current financial problems with long-term solutions
WASHINGTON – Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) introduced the Postal Operations Sustainment and Transformation (POST) Act of 2011. The POST Act addresses the current budget issues plaguing the U.S. Postal Service by proposing a series of provisions including: easing postal employee pension and retiree health costs; addressing postal employee wages and benefits; allowing partnerships with state and local governments; continuing and enhancing efforts to preserve its existing business; and giving the Postal Service leeway to close post offices, market certain non-postal items, and eliminate Saturday delivery.
“For decades, Americans have taken the Postal Service for granted. We’ve assumed that it would always be there. But our troubled economy – coupled with the continued migration to electronic forms of communication – is putting the future of the Postal Service in jeopardy,” said Sen. Carper. “Furthermore, if the Postal Service were to shut down, the impact on our economy would be dramatic. The Postal Service operates at the center of an industry that employs some 7 million people and generates more than $1 trillion in sales and revenue each year. At such a difficult and fragile time for our economy, we can’t afford to lose those jobs and that kind of productivity.” Read more
Sen. Carper Introduces Comprehensive Postal Service Act
Filed under: postal, postal news, postal reform, press releases, usps
Bill to address current financial problems with long-term solutions
WASHINGTON – Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) introduced the Postal Operations Sustainment and Transformation (POST) Act of 2010. The POST Act addresses the current budget issues plaguing the U.S. Postal Service by proposing a series of provisions including: easing postal employee pension and retiree health costs; addressing postal employee wages and benefits; allowing partnerships with state and local governments; and giving the Postal Service leeway to close post offices, market certain non-postal items, and eliminate Saturday delivery.
“For decades, Americans have taken the Postal Service for granted. We’ve assumed that it would always be there. But our troubled economy – coupled with the continued migration to electronic forms of communication – is putting the future of the Postal Service in jeopardy,” said Sen. Carper. “If we do nothing, we face a future without the valuable services the Postal Service provides. However, if we act quickly, we can turn things around by passing this necessary bill that would give the Postal Service the room it needs to manage itself and avoid it becoming the latest victim of Congressional gridlock.
“Under the leadership of Postmaster General Potter, the Postal Service has made tremendous efforts to cut costs. They’ve also put forth a plan that shows a commitment to further cost cutting and efforts to make their business relevant during these changing times. Achieving these goals will require a shared sacrifice on the parts of the Postal Service, postal employees, and major postal customers.”
“Legislation introduced today by Senator Tom Carper is a roadmap to recovery for the Postal Service,” said Postmaster General John E. Potter. “It incorporates many of the key elements we have identified as necessary and essential to allow the Postal Service to meet the changing needs of its customers.
“This legislation is creative in that it alleviates our retiree health benefit burden while bringing resolution to the pension overpayment dilemma we’ve faced. It permits us to step into the 21st Century by enabling elemental reforms to our network, our infrastructure, and our labor relations and it reduces the number of days we provide door to door delivery service to more closely align our costs and the needs of our customers.
“We commend Senator Carper for his leadership and thank him for his continued support of the Postal Service and his recognition of the vital role we play in the lives of the American people.”
Sen. Carper’s bill attempts to permanently address the pension and retiree health issues that have been a drain on postal finances over the years. The Postal Service currently pays into the old Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) using a formula that recent studies by the Postal Service’s Inspector General, the Postal Regulatory Commission, and at least two outside consulting firms found resulted in gross overpayments. In addition, the Postal Service since FY2007 has been required to pay between $5.5 billion and $5.9 billion a year in an effort to prefund its future retiree health obligations. Sen. Carper’s bill would require the Office of Personnel Management to recalculate the Postal Service’s CSRS obligations using a modern formula that more fairly divides responsibility for pension costs related to pay increases granted to former Post Office Department employees who transitioned to the Postal Service between the Postal Service and the federal government. This recalculation would result in a finding that the Postal Service has overfunded CSRS by about $50 billion. Sen. Carper’s bill would give the Postal Service more than $5 billion each year from this $50 billion overpayment to help it make its retiree health payments.
Another provision of Sen. Carper’s bill would reaffirm the Postal Service’s authority to reduce delivery frequency when it felt like doing so was necessary. Based on the Postal Service’s proposal to eliminate Saturday delivery, such authority could save the Postal Service $3 billion or more a year. The bill would also eliminate several provisions in law that force the Postal Service to maintain post offices that are no longer necessary, allowing the Postal Service to open cheaper, more convenient retail options such as automated kiosks or postal stations located in grocery stores or other places where people go every day.
Under current law, the Postal Service is prohibited with a few exceptions from offering “non-postal” products and services; however, Sen. Carper’s bill would revise the prohibition, allowing the Postal Service to offer non-postal products that are in the public interest and make use of the existing postal network. Additionally, the new bill would allow the Postal Service to ship wine and beer, a service UPS and FedEx already provides, and to work with state and local governments seeking to use postal retail locations to serve citizens seeking to access services such as voter registration or driver’s license renewal.
Finally, Sen. Carper’s legislation seeks to reform the way in which Postal employees’ wages and benefits are determined. Wages and benefits currently account for roughly 80 percent of the Postal Service’s expenses. On top of this, the Postal Service is required under the law to pay its employees wages and benefits that are comparable to those paid in the private sector. At times, arbitrators have awarded postal employees what they believe are comparable pay and benefits without taking the Postal Service’s financial condition into account. Recognizing that this situation cannot continue in a world where the Postal Service operates under a rate cap and faces stiffer competition from electronic communication, the bill requires arbitrators to take the Postal Service’s financial condition into account along with other factors such as the comparability requirement and the details of the rate system.
The POST Act would provide relief starting in the next fiscal year, FY11. Since the Postal Service will be unable to make the retiree health payment due on September 30 of this year, however, Congress will need to enact legislation to prevent a Postal Service default or a disruption in postal operations as it did in FY09. Sen. Carper’s bill aims to permanently end the need for similar one-year fixes.
click here to read Senator Carper’s Postal Service Act
Senator Collins: USPS Slow In Taking Advantage of Tools In Postal Reform Act
SENATOR COLLINS’ STATEMENT ON PLAN TO REDUCE POSTAL DELIVERY SERVICE
March 2, 2010
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Postal Service today announced that it will propose cutting Saturday mail delivery as a way to trim its large budget shortfalls. It also proposes to reduce overtime and to cut its workforce by about 30,000. Senator Susan Collins, R-Me., Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which has oversight of the U.S. Postal Service, issued the following statement:
“The Postal Service is the only financially troubled business I know that would focus on cutting service rather than on trying to serve its customers better. The Postal Service needs to increase its volume and attract more customers. It cannot expect to gain more business if it is reducing service.
“The Postal Service is the lynchpin of a $900 billion mailing industry, providing nine million jobs nationwide. Given its critical role in our economy, the Postal Service should do everything it can to develop new revenue streams, to become more competitive and to improve services for both individual and business customers.
“I am concerned that cutting delivery days could force businesses to seek alternatives for their communication needs. Such a migration of customers will only increase the erosion in the Postal Service’s shrinking mail volume, which will prompt greater postage rate hikes and renew calls for even more truncated delivery services. It is a vicious cycle that will only exacerbate the Postal Service’s dire financial problems. We must break this death spiral.
“Despite the relief Congress provided to the Postal Service in 2003, 2006 and 2009, it is seeking to wish away more of its liabilities. It also has been slow to take advantage of the tools provided in the 2006 reform act to improve its financial situation. It also is clear that the USPS must continue to address its workforce-related costs, which account for about 80 percent of its total