The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (S-662) could
result in costs of $2.5 billion per year over revenues,
according to the Congressional Budget Office.
It said provisions shifting the burden of paying for
pension costs associated with the military service credits
of certain postal employees from postal ratepayers to the
government, and another relieving the agency of keeping
funds in an escrow account would ease budgetary pressures,
but it also said a third provision requiring USPS to pay
for health care benefits of future retirees as those
benefits are accrued by current employees would offset
the savings from the first two provisions by 2028.
Regardless of the bill, the Postal Service faces challenges
collecting enough revenues to cover its costs due to
increased electronic communication and competition from
independent carriers, and partly due to rising costs of
health care, according to CBO.
It said that if revenues kept up with the rate of inflation,
the agency’s costs over the 2026-2030 period could exceed
revenues by as much as seven percent.
Closing that gap with annual payments – by taxpayers,
ratepayers, or both – into an interest-bearing fund could
mean payments of $2.5 billion per year, or $11 billion if
revenues lagged behind inflation by one percent.
CBO warned, “unless USPS’s managers can find ways to
control costs through ongoing increases in productivity,
the Congress may ultimately face choices among accepting
significant increases in postage rates, allowing major
cutbacks in postal services, or providing significant
federal aid to the Postal Service.”
