Postal Service Reform Act Passes

Today, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock applauded the passage of the bipartisan Postal Service Reform Act, which passed the Senate 79-19. The legislation, which Senator Reverend Warnock supported, will improve the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) financial position. It also improves transparency and accountability, including requiring six-day delivery.

“Georgians rely on the U.S. Postal Service to get their medicine, social security checks, tax documents, their ballot and so much more,” Said Senator Reverend Warnock. “I’m pleased we were able to finally get this commonsense legislation done, and that it will soon become law. And, I’m proud that all Georgians, especially seniors, voters, and workers, will benefit from these much needed improvements to USPS.”

The Postal Service Reform Act includes the following provisions:

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.
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.

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, which the Postal Service estimates 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. The Postal Service estimates this provision would drastically reduce its prefunding liability and allow it to save roughly $27 billion over 10 years.

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.

In addition, the bill will require:

• 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.