Government affairs

Legislative Updates

Week in Review (December 2-6)

With Thanksgiving behind us, lawmakers returned to a very busy schedule ahead of the December recess. The current continuing resolution funds the government through December 20 and negotiations between leadership and the White House on long-term funding continues. While a possible deal could be worked out this weekend, until that is finalized, uncertainty will remain on their potential departure for the holiday recess. In the meantime, the calendar for the second session of the 116th Congress has been released, and most importantly to letter carriers, the USPS Fairness Act has been introduced in the Senate and reached 290 in the House.

Senate activity

On Tuesday, Sens. Steve Daines (R-MT) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) introduced the USPS Fairness Act (S. 2965), a bill to repeal the mandate to prefund postal retiree health benefits. The bill is identical to House legislation (H.R. 2382), which was introduced earlier this year and has the support of a bipartisan majority of the House of Representatives. With the introduction of a Senate companion, there is now demonstrated bipartisan and bicameral support for repealing the mandate. This is incredibly encouraging, and letter carriers should be proud of their hard work. Read more here.

On Wednesday, Sens. Gary Peters (D-MI), Ranking Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC), and Mitt Romney (R-UT) introduced the U.S. Postal Service Opioid & Illicit Drug Strategy Act (S. 2974), which would require USPS to develop and publish a comprehensive organizational strategy to combat the use of the mail in illicit drug distribution, among other provisions. NALC supports this legislation and is fully committed to working with Congress to fight the epidemic in any way we can. Read more here.

On Thursday, current Chairman of the USPS Board of Governors (BOG) Robert M. Duncan was confirmed in an 89-0 vote for a second term expiring December 8, 2025. Duncan’s confirmation vote was expedited as per a new rule in the Senate put in place on April 3, 2019 that reduced the maximum time nominations can be considered after cloture has been invoked from 30 hours to 2 hours. This rule change has allowed vastly more presidential nominees to be considered and confirmed. NALC expects the White House to nominate more individuals to serve on the BOG in the future. Read more here.

House activity

The USPS Fairness Act continues to build support in the House and has achieved a major milestone. On Tuesday, H.R. 2382 surpassed the “House Consensus Calendar” threshold of 290 cosponsors, which means that the bill can now be placed in the queue for a House floor vote. This achievement underscores all the hard work letter carriers have put in and continue to put in on educating lawmakers on the unfair and burdensome pre-funding mandate. Its repeal is key to achieving postal reform in the future. It will free USPS to invest in its infrastructure, and better utilize its vast networks to further serve business and residential customers. Read more about the rule here.

NALC Priority Bills/Resolutions

H.R. 2382/S. 2965 – USPS Fairness Act
Status: Introduced by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT)
Co-sponsors: 295 House (233 Democrats – 61 Republicans) – 1 Senate (1 Democrats – 0 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: 257 (206 Democrats – 51 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: 266 (225 Democrats – 41 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: 291 (218 Democrats – 73 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: 203 (178 Democrats – 25 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: 53 (43 Democrats – 8 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.

H.R. 2478 – Fed Retirement Fairness Act
Status: Introduced by Reps. Derek Kilmer (D-WA) and Tom Cole (R-OK)
Co-sponsors: 51 (39 Democrats – 12 Republicans)

To 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. Now applies to temporary postal employees, such as letter carriers who spent time as casuals, TEs, and CCAs.

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