[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1296 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1296

 To reform the laws relating to Postal Service finances, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 20, 1997

  Mr. Cochran introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
           referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To reform the laws relating to Postal Service finances, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Postal Financing Reform Act of 
1997''.

SEC. 2. END OF TREASURY CONTROL OF POSTAL SERVICE BANKING.

    (a) In General.--Subsection (d) of section 2003 of title 39, United 
States Code, is amended to read as follows:
    ``(d) The Postal Service, in its sole discretion--
            ``(1) may provide that amounts which would otherwise be 
        deposited in the revolving fund referred to in subsection (a) 
        shall instead, to the extent considered appropriate by the 
        Postal Service, be directly deposited in a Federal Reserve bank 
        or a depository for public funds selected by the Postal 
        Service; and
            ``(2) may provide for transfers of amounts under this 
        subsection between or among--
                    ``(A) Federal Reserve banks;
                    ``(B) depositories for public funds; and
                    ``(C) the revolving fund referred to in subsection 
                (a).''.
    (b) Savings Provision.--Until the authority under section 2003(d) 
of title 39, United States Code, as amended by subsection (a), becomes 
available, the provisions of such section 2003(d), as last in effect 
before being so amended, shall be treated as if still in effect.
    (c) Status of Moneys Unchanged.--
            (1) Any amounts invested under section 2003(c) of title 39, 
        United States Code, as amended by this Act, shall be considered 
        to be part of the Postal Service Fund, to the same extent as if 
        such amounts had been invested under section 2003(c) of such 
        title 39, as last in effect before the date of enactment of 
        this Act.
            (2) Any amounts deposited or transferred under section 
        2003(d) of title 39, United States Code, as amended by this 
        Act, shall be considered to be part of the Postal Service Fund, 
        to the same extent as if such amounts had been transferred 
        under section 2003(d) of such title 39, as last in effect 
        before the date of enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. POSTAL SERVICE INVESTMENTS.

    Section 2003(c) of title 39, United States Code, is amended by 
striking all after ``it may'' and inserting the following: ``invest 
such amounts as it considers appropriate in--
            ``(1) obligations of, or obligations guaranteed by, the 
        Government of the United States; and
            ``(2) such other obligations or securities as it deems 
        appropriate, if such investment is closely related to Postal 
        Service operations as determined by the Board of Governors.''.

SEC. 4. ELIMINATION OF TREASURY PREEMPTION OF BORROWING BY THE POSTAL 
              SERVICE.

    Section 2006(a) of title 39, United States Code, is amended to read 
as follows:
    ``(a) Before selling any issue of obligations under section 2005 of 
this title, the Postal Service shall advise the Secretary of the 
Treasury of the amount, proposed date of sale, maturities, terms and 
conditions, and expected maximum rates of interest of the proposed 
issue in appropriate detail. The Postal Service shall consult with the 
Secretary of the Treasury, or the designee of the Secretary, under this 
subsection for a reasonable period of time as determined by the Postal 
Service. The sale and issue of obligations described under this 
subsection shall not be subject to approval by the Secretary of the 
Treasury.''.

SEC. 5. ELIMINATION OF POSTAL SERVICE ``PUT'' ON TREASURY.

    Section 2006(b) of title 39, United States Code, is amended to read 
as follows:
    ``(b)(1) Upon request of the Postal Service, the Secretary of the 
Treasury may purchase obligations of the Postal Service in such amount 
as the Secretary and the Postal Service, in their discretion, may 
agree.
    ``(2) The obligations purchased by the Secretary pursuant to 
paragraph (1) shall be exempt from the maximum amount limitations of 
section 2005(a), if--
            ``(A) the total outstanding amount of obligations exempt 
        from section 2005(a) does not exceed $2,500,000,000 at any one 
        time; and
            ``(B) the Secretary and the Postal Service jointly 
        determine that such exemption is necessary to carry out the 
        purposes of this chapter.''.

SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act, and the amendments made by this Act, shall become 
effective 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
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