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Support Growing for H.R. 22
Union Asks Members to Contact Congress
APWU Web News Article #042-09, April 6, 2009
Legislation that would provide the Postal Service temporary relief from a crushing financial crisis is gaining wide support in Congress.
More than half of the members of the House of Representatives have signed on as co-sponsors of H.R. 22 [PDF], which would modify a provision of the 2006 postal “reform” law that drains the Postal Service of billions of dollars per year and has contributed to a financial crisis so severe that it threatens the viability of the nation's 235-year-old postal system.
The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act requires the USPS to spend more than $5 billion per year from 2006 through 2016 to pre-fund retiree healthcare benefits. No other federal agency is subject to this requirement.
“The most important thing Congress can do is to pass H.R. 22,” APWU President William Burrus told legislators in testimony [PDF] before the House Federal Workforce, Post Office, and District of Columbia Subcommittee on March 25. Absent this relief, he added, it is unlikely that the Postal Service can survive in its present form.
The bill, introduced on Jan. 6 by Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL) and Rep. John McHugh (R-NY), has 252 co-sponsors. It would allow the USPS to pay for healthcare benefits for current retirees from its Retiree Health Benefit Fund instead of its operating budget, and would save the Postal Service an average of $3.5 billion per year over the next eight years.
“I urge all APWU members to contact their Congressional representatives to seek additional support for this crucial legislation,” Burrus said.
H.R. 22 has taken on added urgency as a result of the nation’s economic downturn, which has caused a sharp drop in mail volume and USPS revenue. In Fiscal Year 2008, mail volume declined by 9 billion pieces, the largest single one-year drop in history, and the USPS suffered a net loss of $2.8 billion — despite cutting costs by $2 billion. Meanwhile, postal executives continue to slash work hours and services to customers, and scores of facility “consolidations” are in the works.
According to Postmaster General John E. Potter, with continued losses, the USPS would be unable to pay its bills later this year — an outcome that would have a devastating effect on postal workers and consumers, as well as the nation's fragile economy.
Click here to see if your U.S. representative is a co-sponsor of
H.R. 22.
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