The sponsors of postal reform legislation in the Senate have begun considering an updated draft that incorporates a number of changes, including some related to the closure of post offices and mail processing facilities, as well as overnight delivery standards.
The chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., ranking member Susan Collins, R-Maine, and the financial management subcommittee chair Tom Carper, D-Del., and ranking member Scott Brown, R-Mass., introduced the amendment to the 21st Century Postal Service Act, S-1789.
It requires USPS to maintain overnight delivery standards for local first class mail, and three-day standards over longer distances, and expands the number of alternatives USPS must consider before deciding to close a post office.
The revised bill would require the appointment of a chief innovation officer and establish a strategic advisory commission composed of prominent citizens and charged with developing a new strategic blueprint for the Postal Service. This last provision is a much watered down version of the BRAC-style task force proposed by Rep. Darrell Issa’s "Postal Reform Act of 2011," HR-2309, which the CBO recently stated would save $20 billion through 2022. Issa’s bill would also establish a restructuring authority that would kick in if the Postal Service defaults on payments for over 30 days, allowing a receivership-style authority to take over USPS management with a cost-cutting mandate.
Other provisions in the amended S-1789 would grant USPS access to monies overpaid into a retirement fund and authorize retirement incentives for 100,000 already retirement eligible employees; reduce the amount USPS has to pre-fund for retiree health benefits; postpone moving to a five-day delivery schedule for two years and try to find alternatives first; allow the sale of non-postal products and services as well as the shipment of alcohol; and reform the FECA injury compensation program.
