US House Oversight Committee hearing on Postal Reform bill
The US House of Representatives’ Oversight and Government Reform Committee is today (12 July) marking up the Postal Service Reform Act [HR 5714]. The stated aim of the bill is: “To restore the financial solvency and improve the governance of the United States Postal Service in order to ensure the efficient and affordable nationwide delivery of mail, and for other purposes.”
The bill has been introduced by a bipartisan group of Representatives sitting on the Oversight Committee. The Chairman Jason Chaffetz is joined by Ranking Member Elijah E. Cummings, as well Mark Meadows, Gerry Connolly, and Stephen F. Lynch.
The draft bill is a wide-ranging document. Some of the key ideas being brought forward include proposals that would:
- allow the US Postal Service (USPS) to increase postal rates for market-dominant products by 2.15%, or 1 cent for a First-Class stamp
- require the PRC to complete its full review of the market-dominant rate system by 1 January 2018
- establish “priority factors” for consideration in the PRC’s rate review
- eliminate state and national political committees’ eligibility for non-profit mail rates
- directs the USPS to raise rates on loss-making monopoly products, subject to certain overall rate increase limitations.
