Senator Snowe Opposes USPS Consolidation Plan for Hampden Facility
Filed under: post office closings, postal, postal news, usps
Provides comments challenging agency’s proposal at public meeting in Brewer
Press Release from the Office of Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-ME)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) this evening expressed her strenuous opposition to the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) controversial proposal to consolidate the Eastern Maine Processing and Distribution Facility’s mail processing operations from Hampden into its Southern Maine Processing and Distribution Center in Scarborough, under the guise of cost-saving. Participating at a public meeting tonight in Brewer, Senator Snowe called on the Postal Service to reevaluate its plan based on the damaging impact the agency’s actions could have on mail delivery throughout rural areas in western, northern, and eastern Maine. Read more
Senators Lieberman, Collins, Carper, and Brown React to USPS Losses
Filed under: politics, postal, postal news, postal reform, press releases, usps
WASHINGTON – Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn), Ranking Member Susan Collins (R-Maine), Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.), and Senator Scott Brown (R-Mass.) reacted Tuesday to an announcement from the Postal Service that it lost $5.1 billion in Fiscal Year 2011. The loss would have been $10 billion without emergency Congressional intervention.
Sen. Lieberman: “This is yet more confirmation of what we already know: the Postal Service is in such deep financial trouble that mail delivery would be disrupted sometime next year unless bold action is taken. Senators Collins, Carper, Brown, and I have proposed bold reforms in our 21st Century Postal Service Act, which was approved by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last week. I urge my colleagues to support our bill as a last ditch effort to save this valuable national asset upon which millions of people and businesses rely every day.”
Sen. Collins: “It’s no surprise the red ink continues to flood the U.S. Postal Service. Absent action, it won’t be able to meet its payroll a year from now. The Postal Service is the linchpin of a $1.1 trillion mailing and mail-related industry that employs approximately 8.7 million Americans in fields as diverse as direct mail, printing, catalog companies, and paper manufacturing. It literally won’t survive without legislative and administrative reforms. That’s why the bipartisan bill passed by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee represents a huge step forward toward giving the Postal Service the authority it needs to restructure, modernize, survive, and thrive. I’m hopeful that this bipartisan compromise legislation will move swiftly through the Senate.”
Sen. Carper: “I have been saying for some time now that Congress needs to come together on a plan that can save the Postal Service and protect the more than eight million jobs that rely on it. Last week, we took an important step in our effort to reform the Postal Service by passing the bipartisan 21st Century Postal Service Act (S.1789) out of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Today’s report again underscores the urgency of this situation. But while the situation is dire, it is not hopeless. That is why we need to pass this bipartisan and comprehensive bill – the only bipartisan proposal from Members in either Chamber – as soon as possible. It is my hope that Congress and the Administration can come together on this plan in order to save the Postal Service before it’s too late.”
Sen. Brown: “Combined with losses from previous years, it is clear that the Postal Service faces a significant risk of being insolvent by next year. Congress will need to act soon to address some of the major financial challenges the Postal Service is facing. The 21st Century Postal Service Act is ready to head to the floor and it’s my hope that it will be called up as soon as possible, so that we can begin to put the Postal Service on a path towards financial solvency.”
Video: Senator Collins Introduces 21st Century Postal Service Act
Senator Collins Introduces Plan to Stabilize U.S. Postal Service
Senators Introduce 21st Century Postal Service Act
WASHINGTON – Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security, which oversees the U.S. Postal Service, joined Sens. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Scott Brown (R-Maine) to introduce the bipartisan 21st Century Postal Service Act of 2011. His statement, as prepared for delivery, follows: Read more
Flashback: Congress Says 2006 Postal Reform Bill Will Make USPS Viable for 21st Century
Are we in the 22nd Century yet? On December 20, 2006, the “Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006″ was passed in both House and Senate (Darrell Issa was there at the time). This legislation was supposed to “modernize the United States Postal Service and make it viable for the 21st century. The legislation, the first major overhaul of the USPS since 1970, will help stabilize mail volume and stamp prices.” Read more
Senate Will Weigh Proposals To Save USPS After White House Submits Its Own
Filed under: politics, postal, postal reform, usps, white house
TWO SENATE BILLS, USPS PROPOSALS CONFLICT
WASHINGTON – Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Federal Financial Management Subcommittee Chairman Tom Carper, D-Del., Tuesday praised Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe for offering a bold plan that attempts to stave off the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) imminent bankruptcy. But they did not endorse all of his proposals. Read more
Senator Susan Collins: Rural Post Offices not the cause of USPS financial crisis
Filed under: politics, post office closings, postal, postal news, usps
Senator Collins Urges PRC to Consider Congress Intent In Postal Rate Increase Case
Filed under: politics, postal, postal news, PRC, press releases, rate increase, usps
Press release from Susan Collins, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Ranking Member , R-Maine:
WASHINGTON, July 25 —U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, today urged the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) to consider Congressional intent as it determines how closely proposed rate hikes must be linked to an exigent circumstance to warrant an increase above the rate of inflation.
The 2006 postal reform law, which Senator Collins authored, capped postal rate increases at the rate of inflation, but allowed a narrow exception for extraordinary or exceptional circumstances such as a terrorist attack or catastrophic natural disaster.
Senator Collins’ committee has jurisdiction over the U.S. Postal Service. In January, she filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to uphold the PRC’s unanimous decision to reject the Postal Service’s requested rate hikes, which on average, would have increased rates by four to six percent. The Court of Appeals largely agreed with the PRC’s and Senator Collins’ position, but remanded to the PRC the narrow question of how close the causal link must be between a proposed rate increase and the exigent circumstances used by the Postal Service to justify the increase.
“The economy and technology are affecting the Postal Service and, indeed, most businesses. But in writing postal reform legislation in 2006, my intention was not to permit rate increases above the inflation-based cap as relief from chronic, ordinary, or unexceptional circumstances and general Postal Service red ink,” said Senator Collins. “I urge the PRC to require that the nexus between the exigent circumstances and the proposed rate hike be close. This is necessary to preserve the stability and predictability of rates that the 2006 law sought to establish.
“Excessive rate increases coupled with service cutbacks will only drive customers away. The Postal Service needs to redouble its efforts to cut costs, develop new services to increase volume, re-invent its business model, and work with the Administration to remedy an overpayment to the federal retirement fund. I will continue to press the Administration and the Postal Service on these vital reforms.”
Senator Collins Issues Statement On PRC’s Five-Day Delivery Advisory Opinion
Washington, DC – The Postal Regulatory Commission today released an Advisory Opinion on the U.S. Postal Service five-day delivery plan. The Postal Service must obtain a Commission Advisory Opinion on any change in nationwide service it proposes. The Opinion found annual net savings to be an estimate is $1.7 billion versus the Postal Service’s savings estimate of $3.1 billion among other discrepancies
Senator Susan Collins, the Ranking Member of Senate Committee that oversees the Postal Service, issued the following statement.
“The PRC found that the Postal Service’s estimate of savings was inflated and points out that ending Saturday delivery would delay approximately a quarter of first class and priority mail. While cutting service would save the Postal Service money, it would also drive down the mail volume that is critical to maintaining its solvency.
“Moreover, the PRC exposes the Postal Service’s failure to even consider the likely harm to rural postal customers. Echoing my warnings, PRC Chairman Ruth Goldway acknowledged in her addendum to the Opinion that five-day delivery would ‘unfairly discriminate’ against rural postal customers. The Advisory Opinion raises many of the same questions that I have posed over and over. These consequences simply must be addressed before consideration of such a significant service reduction.”
In February, Senator Collins introduced legislation to help the Postal Service regain its financial footing as it adapts to the era of increasingly digital communications. The “U.S. Postal Service Improvements Act of 2011” would help the USPS achieve financial stability and future cost savings without undermining customer service.
NALC: Collins’ bill is a good start, but it needs work
As the 112th Congress gets underway, the NALC’s legislative goals remain firm. We continue to seek legislation that allows the U.S. Postal Service to use the pension surpluses in both the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) to fully fund the Service’s retiree health benefit account. We are asking Congress to repeal the burdensome mandate included in the 2006 postal reform bill that requires the USPS to pre-fund that retiree health benefit account to the tune of $5.5 billion a year—an onerous obligation not shared by any other corporation or government agency. And we continue to push for legislation that requires the continuation of six-day mail delivery service.
On Feb. 15, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee—the committee that has oversight of the Postal Service—introduced S. 353, the Postal Service Improvements Act of 2011. Essentially, this is the same bill she brought forward last year, a measure expired at the end of 2010.
Some of Collins’ provisions in S. 353 mirror many of the NALC’s legislative objectives. However, the bill also includes a number of provisions that the union cannot support.
Among the measure’s positive points is an up-front call for the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to recalculate the amount of the surplus retirement funds in the Postal Service’s account in CSRS and to allow the Service to transfer that surplus—which her bill estimates is between $50 billion and $55 billion—into the Postal Retiree Health Benefit Fund. Additionally, the bill calls for allowing the OPM to use surplus money in the Service’s FERS account—nearly $3 billion—to pay down debt or to fund the USPS’ workers’ compensation liability.
While those are good starts toward solving the Postal Service’s financial problems, there are unfortunately two key provisions in the bill that prevent the NALC from throwing our full support behind it.
One section of the Collins’ measure requires postal interest arbitration panels to consider the Postal Service’s financial health when rendering decisions about collective bargaining agreements, a provision that, if passed, would put a thumb on the scale in management’s favor during contract negotiations. Further, such a management advantage is completely unnecessary because the financial situation of both parties is always presented during arbitration hearings, and to claim otherwise is nonsense. Besides, any arbitrator worth his or her salt—especially one agreed to by both the NALC and the USPS—considers every single exhibit and piece of evidence presented during arbitration proceedings before rendering a decision.
Another of the bill’s provisions concerns federal employees who draw workers’ compensation benefits—including postal employees—. S. 353 calls for converting those workers over to retirement benefits when they reach the appropriate age, if their workers’ compensation benefits end up exceeding their regular annuity payments. (This language was also included in Federal Workers’ Compensation Reform bill Collins introduced Feb. 4.)
One of the NALC’s primary concerns with this provision is that fails to take into account the loss of regular retirement benefits under CSRS and FERS that would be suffered by Federal Employee Compensation Act (FECA) recipients who get separated from the Postal Service. Such injured workers get no years-of-service credit over the period of their injuries once they are separated, since their annuities are based on their high-3 average salaries at the time of their separation, not at the time of regular retirement.
This potential loss of retirement income is compounded for FECA recipients covered by CSRS since those employees are unable to participate in the Thrift Savings Plan or to accrue benefits under Social Security—both of which make up two-thirds of the retirement package earned by FERS employees.
“We thank our long-time friend, Senator Collins, for taking steps to help keep the Postal Service solvent for many years to come,” Rolando said. “While the NALC can support some of the provisions in S. 353, we need to keep working with her and all of our friends in Congress to take out or amend other provisions in her bill before we can give it our full backing.”