Another Try Possible on Postal Reform

A revised version of long-standing postal reform attempts may be introduced soon by the chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. The committee last year passed a bill on a partisan vote but at a recent hearing Issa indicated he plans to try again with revisions that could attract Democratic votes; in the prior Congress, the committee also had passed a bill but it never reached the House floor. Issues causing the hangup include under what conditions a switch to five-day mail delivery would be allowed, policies on closing post offices and other facilities, and what to do about a requirement to pre-fund retiree health insurance costs that accounts for a large part of the agency’s financial losses of recent years. Other issues at stake in postal reform include possibly breaking off postal employees and retirees into a separate health insurance risk pool with unknown impacts on the rest of the FEHB population, and making the FECA injury compensation program less generous government-wide.