Government affairs

Lawmakers were on Capitol Hill this week with House committees marking up appropriations bills for fiscal year 2020 and Senate committees focused on advancing nominees. They will remain in Washington DC through May 24, before heading back to their respective districts/states.

Senate activity

On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (HSGAC) held a business meeting to advance the nominations of Ron A. Bloom and Roman Martinez IV to the Postal Board of Governors (BOG), and other nominees and legislation. The nominees were reported favorably and the next step is full Senate confirmation, which is expected in the coming weeks.

Letter carrier fly-in

Letter carriers from New York came to Washington DC this week to march through the halls of Congress and meet with their Representatives and Senators in order to discuss the issues that impact postal and federal employees. Our NY brothers and sisters spoke with members and staff of both parties, discussing our priority resolutions, repealing the burdensome pre-funding mandate via the USPS Fairness Act (H.R. 2382), and protecting workers’ rights to organize and bargain via the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act (H.R. 2474/S. 1306), among other issues.

With their trip to DC now complete, this season’s membership fly-ins have concluded. Face to face engagement on our issues is great, but phone calls to offices matter just as much. NALC encourages all letter carriers to check if your Representative is already a cosponsor on H. Res. 23, H. Res. 33, H. Res. 54, H. Res. 60, or H.R. 2382 and if your Senators are cosponsors of S. Res. 99 before reaching out and asking them for their support.

Click here to find your representative’s phone number.

Click here to find your senators’ phone numbers.

 

NALC Priority Bills/Resolutions

H.R. 2382 – USPS Fairness Act
Status: Introduced by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR)
Co-sponsors: 45 (37 Democrat – 8 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: 189 (156 Democrats – 33 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: 243 (210 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: 239 (181 Democrats – 58 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: 155 (134 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: 47 (38 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.