A two-party group of lawmakers in the House and Senate have enacted legislation that would provide the much-needed financial relief to the Postal Service by enforcing a mandate that required him to pay retirement benefits in advance decades in advance.
The issue stems from a 2006 law that required the Postal Service to set up a $ 72 billion fund that would pay more than 50 years in the future for their employees’ health benefits. No other federal agency requires it.
The ‘USPS Fairness Act’, introduced by both Democrats and Republicans in both chambers, would remove the requirement and come because some lawmakers and the largest postal service union called on President Joe Biden to quickly introduce new leadership in the to install federal agency.
“The unreasonable pre-funding mandate has threatened the survival of the USPS and endangered vital services for the millions who rely on it,” he said. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., One of the sponsors of the bill said. “The policy for pre-funding mandates is based on the absurd idea of paying for the retirement funds for people who have not, and perhaps never have, worked for the Postal Service.”
A similar measure was adopted by the House on a dual basis almost exactly a year ago, with 309 members of Congress supporting and 106 against. The bill was received by the Senate five days later, but it never moved forward and died in the chamber.
Sens. Steve Daines, R-Mont., And Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, introduced the bill Monday in hopes of pushing it through the Senate quickly this time.
The postal service has so far raised $ 56.8 billion in its retirement benefits health benefits fund to fulfill its mandate, according to a report by the Post Regulatory Commission last year, but it was a struggle to even get there.
Meanwhile, the financial requirement has caused a major economic downturn for the postal service, causing it to fall further into debt billions of dollars annually. Many of the negative balances only appear on the ledgers due to the mandate in 2006.
The postal service missed $ 48.2 billion in required health and pension benefits for retirees on September 30, 2018, ‘concluded a review by the government’s accounting office in 2019.
The report notes that the agency’s obligations due to the mandate have increased drastically, showing that the postal service’s debt has grown to more than 200 percent of its revenue since the adoption of the 2006 law.
“The 2006 Post Enhancement Enhancement Act did something that was absurd, draconian and that no other agency or private enterprise should ever do,” said Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union. “This has led to a financial crisis in the post office.”
The Postal Service said it supported lifting the pre-funding mandate, but only ‘as a companion’ to Medicare integration, a proposal previously driven in Congress that would merge retirees’ benefits with the federal Medicare program .
“The application of these two provisions will have a very significant positive effect on the financial sustainability of the Postal Service,” said David Partenheimer, a spokesman for the Postal Service.
While the American Postal Workers Union has said it does not oppose the idea of Medicare integration, it has urged Congress to continue with current legislation as it is.
The law that created the mandate was originally passed in 2006 with broad dual support during a lame duck session of Congress, just as Republicans were on the verge of losing their majority.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, was criticized during her re-election last year for helping the bill through Congress in 2006, even though the legislation was passed with almost unanimous support.
Collins told NBC News that a few years after the measure became law, she filed a bill to give the Postal Service more time to pay for the benefits, but it was never accepted.
“It eased the multi-million dollar postal service obligation, and it was meant to ensure that pensioners had the benefits they deserved,” she said of the 2006 law. ‘It seems to be too aggressive a schedule, which is why the postal service has not made the payments for almost ten years. ‘
Rep. Bill Pascrell, DN.J., voted for the bill in 2006 and said in an open voice that in 2019 he had written down that committee leaders had told Congressmen ‘that the legislation is critical.’ However, it appears that the law is “one of the worst pieces of legislation that Congress has passed in a generation,” he said.
“Forcing USPS to pay its employees’ pensions 50 years in advance in the future is an insanity that is the biggest cause of the post office’s financial problems,” Pascrell told NBC News. The abolition of this anchor is supported by an overwhelming majority of Congress. We must succeed not only in saving USPS, but in preserving it for the next century. ”
Supporters of the postal service stressed the economic burden it faced during the numerous delays in delivery last year, and some advocates noted that Congress had to dissolve the mandate.
Then-President Donald Trump opposed offering financial aid to the struggling agency. He received further criticism when he installed Louis DeJoy, a major Republican fundraiser, as the new postmaster general. DeJoy fired after making numerous cost cuts that came under scrutiny because many were worried it would delay the timely delivery of election mail.
Pascrell said in a letter to Biden last week that the president should fire the Postal Service’s Board of Governors because of the delays in the post and the postal service changes introduced by DeJoy. The new members can then vote to fire DeJoy.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment when asked if Biden supported the USPS Fairness Act or the pressure to change the leadership of the postal service.
Dimondstein said the union insisted the president would quickly make nominations for four open governors’ palaces and pointed out that there were no female or black members of the council. There are also ‘no people who are aware of the inner workings of the postal service,’ he said.
“Whoever is the postmaster general, we need a strong postal council to give the policy and direction,” he said. “And we believe that it is now up to this president to finish quickly.”