Funding Switch Could Be Hang-Up

The Senate panel is holding hearings this week on the postal bill and if all goes according to plan will vote to approve the measure next week. However, the bill contains some language that prevented enactment in the last Congress and that could prove to be a hang-up again. That clause would repeal a requirement that money owed to the Postal Service due to an overpayment into the Civil Service Retirement Fund be held in an escrow account, which would free up funds that could be used to fund health care liabilities, among other purposes. The measure also would return to the Treasury the responsibility for funding CSRS pension benefits relating to the military service of postal retirees.