[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 143 (Friday, September 23, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1718-E1719]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            MOTION TO CONCUR

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                             HON. PAUL RYAN

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 22, 2011

  Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to provide 
explanation and clarification of the intended budget effects from the 
anomaly related to the U.S. Postal Service that is contained in H.J. 
Res 79, the Continuing Resolution (CR) for Fiscal Year 2012.
  H.J. Res. 79 would postpone from September 30, 2011 until November 
18, 2011 the payment due from the Postal Service, which is off-budget, 
to an on-budget account managed by the Office of Personnel Management 
(OPM).
  The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 requires the 
Postal Service to

[[Page E1719]]

make a $5.5 billion payment to OPM by September 30, 2011 to pre-fund 
retiree health benefits. However, the Postal Service does not currently 
have adequate funds to make this payment. To address this issue, the CR 
includes a provision that will delay the payment to provide time for 
the Postal Service to work with Congress and the Administration to 
develop a long-term solution.
  If only the on-budget effects were counted, this delay would score as 
an increase in spending in 2011, but then produce savings in 2012, 
resulting in additional room for spending under the caps on 
discretionary spending established in the Budget Control Act of 2011. 
To prevent this unintended consequence, the House Budget Committee 
scored this anomaly on a unified basis, so that both the on-budget and 
off-budget effects were counted together. As a result, the 2011 cost 
and the 2012 savings offset each other and produce a score of zero in 
the CR. This decision has precedent. A similar provision was included 
in the FY 2010 short-term CR (P.L. 111-68) where the House scored that 
provision on a unified basis pursuant to section 426(b) of the 2010 
budget resolution.
  The off-budget status of the U.S. Postal Service creates significant 
complications for budget enforcement when the agency seeks timing 
shifts or bailouts from the U.S. Treasury due to financial distress. 
The House Budget Committee will continue to monitor this anomaly 
throughout the budget and appropriations process to ensure that it does 
not result in additional discretionary spending in FY 2012.

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