The House and Senate are considering bi-partisan postal
reform bills–HR-22 and S-662, that are considerably
closer than bills introduced in the last Congress.
Last year’s bills stalled partly due to White House
opposition to shifting the burden for funding about $27
billion in military benefits for postal employees from
USPS back to the Department of Treasury.
The current bills would relieve the service of funding
those benefits and abolish an escrow account, but
lawmakers are hoping the White House will compromise.
A comparison of the bills by the Congressional Research
Service said they each would require USPS to prepare
quarterly and annual reports containing the same
information publicly traded corporations file with the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
Both bills also share “identical language regulating
USPS discretion to enter into work–sharing agreements
with the private sector, a matter of concern to large
mailers and postal employee unions,” said the CRS.
Further, it said the bills share language limiting the
USPS to investing excess funds in Treasury investments.
