(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) released the following statement after voting to pass the Postal Service Reform Act, bipartisan legislation that ensures the financial solvency of the United States Postal Service (USPS) for decades to come. The legislation eliminates a burdensome prefunding requirement of retiree benefits that has contributed to 15 consecutive years of operating losses, streamlines and improves delivery services, and strengthens transparency and accountability of the agency’s performance.
“For families in Washington state, the Postal Service is an essential part of life. We rely on its services to keep in touch with loved ones, exercise our right to vote, get the medications we need, and so much more,” said Senator Murray. “With passage of the Postal Service Reform Act, the USPS will finally get back on solid financial footing and deliver more reliable service to the people of Washington state. Not only is this legislation good for communities everywhere, it’s also a win for the postal workers that we all count on to deliver for America.”
Key reforms in the Postal Service Reform Act include:
- Medicare Integration: The Postal Service Reform Act would require future Postal Service retirees, who have been paying into Medicare their entire careers, to enroll in Medicare. Currently, roughly a quarter of postal retirees do not enroll in Medicare even though they are eligible. This means the Postal Service is stuck paying far higher premiums than any other public or private sector employer. By more closely integrating Medicare, the Postal Service estimates it could save approximately $22.7 billion over 10 years.
- Eliminating the Burdensome Prefunding Requirement: The Postal Service Reform Act would eliminate the onerous prefunding requirement for retiree healthcare imposed in 2006 that has hurt the Postal Service financially and added billions in liabilities to the Postal Service’s balance sheet. No private company has faced such an aggressive requirement, which mandated the Postal Service set aside billions of dollars annually to cover future retiree health benefits for current employees, no matter their age, contributing to 15 years of losses. The Postal Service estimates this provision would drastically reduce its prefunding liability and allow it to save roughly $27 billion over 10 years.
- Service Performance Transparency: The Postal Service Reform Act would require the Postal Service to develop a public-facing, online dashboard with national and local level service performance data updated each week to provide additional transparency and promote compliance with on-time delivery of mail.
- Six-Day Delivery: The Postal Service Reform Act would permanently require the Postal Service to maintain its standard of delivering at least six days a week.
- Non-Postal Services: The Postal Service Reform Act would allow the Postal Service to partner with State, local, and tribal governments to offer non-postal services (for non-commercial purposes) that provide enhanced value to the public, as long as they do not detract from core postal services and provided the agreements cover their costs.
Additional Provisions included in the Postal Service Reform Act
In addition to the provisions listed above, the bill includes the following provisions to improve the effectiveness of the Postal Service:
- Regular reporting to Congress on Postal Service operations and financial performance to enable accountability of stated cost savings, revenue, and infrastructure investment goals;
- A Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) review of cost attribution guidelines to ensure cost and pricing accuracy;
- A study on operational inefficiencies in the Postal Service’s handling of flats such as catalogs and magazines;
- Adjustments to the considerations the Postal Service must make when deciding which mode of transportation to use to deliver mail in order to ensure consistency and reliability;
- The expansion of special rates for local newspaper distribution to promote local news organizations;
- Increased funding control for the PRC to support its mission of regulating the Postal Service;
- The consolidation of the PRC’s small Inspector General Office into the more robust Postal Service Office of Inspector General.