Oversight Committee leaders introduce postal reform discussion draft
The US House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz and Ranking Member Elijah E. Cummings, together with fellow Committee members Mark Meadows , Gerry Connolly, and Stephen F. Lynch have introduced a “discussion draft” of postal reform legislation. In a statement issued on Wednesday (15 June), the Committee members said: “The Postal Service is in dire financial shape. Without reform now, the problems will only worsen and reform will become far more difficult to accomplish. This bipartisan legislative solution provides the opportunity for the Postal Service to return to solvency and continue to provide universal service to all Americans.”
According to the statement, the “key highlights” of proposed legislation include:
- Enhance Revenue and Improve Efficiency: The bill keeps mailing costs affordable and encourages innovation.
- Medicare Integration: The bill requires Postal Service retirees to be enrolled in Medicare to remain eligible for federal health care in retirement. The Postal Service and its retirees have paid $29 billion into Medicare, but many retirees are not drawing on the benefits that they have already paid for.
- Streamline Governance and Oversight: The bill reforms the current governance system to improve accountability by:
- restructuring the current Postal Service Board of Governors to improve accountability;
- strengthening the ability of the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) to hold the Postal Service accountable; and
- consolidating the Postal Service and PRC Offices of Inspector General into one body.
Click here to view a summary of the bill.
