Government affairs

The House and Senate returned to Capitol Hill this week following two weeks of in-district/state work and spring recess. Some legislators began the markup process on appropriations bills for fiscal year 2020, while others were deeply involved in hearings on nominations, nationwide infrastructure, the climate change crisis, Medicare for All legislation, and most pertinent to NALC, postal finances.

House Activity

NALC President Fredric Rolando provided testimony on Tuesday to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform at a hearing titled “The Financial Condition of the Postal Service.” The hearing was held to review the current state of the agency’s finances and the need to address them through reform legislation. Other witnesses included Postmaster General Meghan Brennan, and representatives from the PRC, the CATO Institute, and Quad/Graphics. President Rolando’s testimony (watchable here or readable here) centered around the urgent need to pass postal reform legislation (NALC postal reform fact sheet) and to highlight a path to address pre-funding, the primary source of USPS financial losses over the last twelve years. Read more about the hearing here.

On Monday, Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Tom Reed (R-NY), Xochitl Torres Small (D-NM), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) introduced the USPS Fairness Act (H.R. 2382) which would repeal the mandate that USPS “pre-fund” decades’ worth of health benefits for its future retirees, enacted through the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) of 2006. Should this legislation progress through the House and Senate, and then be signed into law, it will significantly improve the financial situation at the Postal Service. To read more about this important legislation, click here.

On Thursday, Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-WA) introduced the Federal Retirement Fairness Act of 2019 (H.R. 2478) which would provide certain federal employees the opportunity to make catch-up retirement contributions for time spent as temporary employees after Dec. 31, 1988, thus making such time creditable service under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). This bill also applies to temporary postal employees, such as letter carriers who spent time as casuals, TEs, and CCAs, are specifically covered in the new bill’s language. This clarification is helpful for postal employees to plan for their retirement. Read more about this bill here.

Joint House/Senate Activity

On Friday, Reps. Bobby Scott (D-VA), Frederica Wilson (D-FL), Andy Levin (D-MI), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Brendan Boyle (D-PA) and Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) introduced the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act in both the House and the Senate. The legislation would increase protections for workers’ right to organize and bargain for higher wages, better benefits, and safer working conditions. Read more on the bill here.

NALC Priority Bills/Resolutions

Last week, a bipartisan majority of support was reached for House Resolution 54 (H. Res. 54), which expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States Postal Service should take all appropriate measures to ensure the continuation of its six-day mail delivery service. Thanks to the hard work of letter carriers across the country, this is the second of our priority resolutions to reach a majority. NALC encourages all letter carriers to check if your Representative is already a cosponsor on H. Res. 23, H. Res. 33, H. Res. 54, or H. Res. 60, and if your Senators are cosponsors of S. Res. 99 before reaching out and asking them for their support.

H.R. 2382 – USPS Fairness Act
Status: Introduced by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR)
Co-sponsors: 3 (1 Democrat – 2 Republicans)

To repeal the requirement that the United States Postal Service prepay future retirement benefits.

House Resolution 23 (H. Res. 23) – Door Delivery
Status: Introduced by Reps. Susan Davis (D-CA) and Peter King (R-NY)
Co-sponsors: 174 (144 Democrats – 30 Republicans)

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States Postal Service should take all appropriate measures to ensure the continuation of door delivery for all business and residential customers.

House Resolution 33 (H. Res. 33) – Anti-privatization
Status: Introduced by Reps. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) and Rodney Davis (R-IL)
Co-sponsors: 234 (201 Democrats – 33 Republicans)

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should take all appropriate measures to ensure that the United States Postal Service remains an independent establishment of the Federal Government and is not subject to privatization.

House Resolution 54 (H. Res. 54) – Six-day Delivery
Status: Introduced by Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) and Sam Graves (R-MO)
Co-sponsors: 228 (172 Democrats – 56 Republicans)

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States Postal Service should take all appropriate measures to ensure the continuation of its six-day mail delivery service.

House Resolution 60 (H. Res. 60) – Service Standards
Status: Introduced by Rep. David McKinley (R-WV) and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
Co-sponsors: 144 (123 Democrats – 21 Republicans)

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States Postal Service should take all appropriate measures to restore service standards in effect as of July 1, 2012.

Senate Resolution 99 (S. Res. 99) – Anti-privatization
Status: Introduced by Sens. Gary Peters and Jerry Moran (R-KS)
Co-sponsors: 38 (29 Democrats – 7 Republicans – 2 Independents)
Expressing the sense of the Senate that Congress should take all appropriate measures to ensure that the United States Postal Service remains an independent establishment of the Federal Government and is not subject to privatization in whole or in part.