e-Team Report, July 21, 2012
"The House’s failure To Act Is Disgraceful"
As mentioned in last week's e-Team update, the Postal Service is expected to default on its upcoming August 1st prefund payment of $5.5 billion to the U.S. Treasury. In an editorial this week, the Federal Times hits the nail on the head when it says,"It’s a monumental failure — but it’s Congress, not the Postal Service, that should be ashamed."
The must-read editorial, "Congress’ Inaction on Postal Service Default Disgraceful," correctly identifies the true culprit of the Postal Service's financial woes as the prefund mandate, which has drained tens of billions of dollars from Postal Service revenues. "Congress set this slow-motion train wreck in motion way back in 2006 when it passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, which required the Postal Service to pre-pay expected health care costs for future retirees within 10 years."
Congress created this mess and now it seems incapable of fixing the problem. The House of Representatives Republican leadership indicated last week that it is not going to consider any postal reform bill before their August recess, and perhaps not before November's election.
Says the Federal Times, "The House’s failure to act is disgraceful. Through their inaction, Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and House Government Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., are demonstrating contempt for the Postal Service and a lack of respect for the law and for the obligations of their own institution."
Guffey Blasts House Leaders
Upon hearing of the House Republican decision to postpone postal reform in favor of election year posturing, APWU President Cliff Guffey took the Republican leaders of the House to task. “We must wrest control of the House from elected officials who are more interested in scoring political points than in conducting the nation’s business. And we must take control from extremists who would like to privatize the Postal Service,” Guffey said.
While the Democratic-controlled Senate was able to work in a bipartisan manner and pass a bill that would provide meaningful relief on prefund payments, Republican leaders in the House have shown no interest in fixing the mess Congress made. While APWU continues to encourage the House to consider real reform, "in the meantime," said Guffey, "postal workers should set their sights on November."
Health Care Spending Cuts
On Wednesday, House Republicans voted to pass an appropriations bill through subcommittee that would end federal funding for the Affordable Care Act, Planned Parenthood, and the Agency for Health Care Quality and Research. The bill, which passed on a primarily party-line vote, slashes nearly $7 billion dollars in funding for health and labor programs.
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