Postal Reform Scored by Congressional Budget Office

Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) published its report on Postal Service Reform Act of 2017 (H.R. 756). It is standard practice for the CBO to “score” pending legislation introduced into Congress in order to report its impact on the federal budget. They estimate that H.R. 756 would result in a savings of $6.2 billion over the next ten years.

These savings are technically “off-budget” because the USPS’ cash flow is recorded in the federal budget (in the Postal Service Fund) is classified as “off-budget.” The cash flow for the Postal Service Retirement Health Benefit Fund (PSRHBF) is “on-budget.” The net “on-budget” cost of the legislation is only $0.2 billion.

“The score for H.R.756 has improved since the last version of the bill in the 114^th Congress,” said Legislative and Political Director Judy Beard. “We are encouraged by the positive changes that have been made in the legislation and will seek continued improvements as the bill moves forward.”

The bill is now off to two House of Representatives’ committees: Ways & Means, chaired by Kevin Brady (R–TX-8) with ranking member Richard Neal (D-MA-1) and Energy & Commerce, chaired by Greg Walden (R-OR-2) with ranking member Frank Pallone (D-NJ-6).

In both committees the bill must be approved in order to be voted on by the full House of Representatives. Then the legislation will move to the Senate for a similar process.

The APWU continues to support H.R. 756 in its present form and is working with legislators to make improvements. This legislation is crucial to ensuring a robust future for America’s public Postal Service.

Be sure to check the Postal Reform Legislation page on apwu.org regularly for updates and information about of H.R. 756 and H.R. 760.