[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 37 (Tuesday, March 1, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S854-S856]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    POSTAL SERVICE REFORM ACT OF 2022--Motion to Proceed--Continued

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.


                               H.R. 3076

  Mr. PETERS. Madam President, last night, the Senate came together for 
the American people and overwhelmingly voted to move forward on 
historic, bipartisan, bicameral, and long-overdue reforms that will 
help ensure the stability and the long-term success of the U.S. Postal 
Service.
  The Postal Service is one of our Nation's oldest and most trusted 
institutions. It serves as a critical lifeline for millions of 
Americans, including seniors and veterans in rural communities who 
expect the Postal Service to deliver vital mail, including supplies and 
medications.
  However, for more than 15 years, this public service and its 
dedicated workers have been hindered by burdensome financial 
requirements. The need to quickly pass these balanced reforms, which 
are broadly supported by the American people, has become increasingly 
urgent.
  One persistent burden has been a requirement to prefund every single 
cent of healthcare benefits that every single postal worker employee 
will use when they eventually retire, no matter how far off that may 
be. This is something that no business in America is required to do, 
and for good reason. It makes no practical sense, and it has imposed an 
enormous cost on the Postal Service that has threatened their ability 
to provide reliable and timely delivery.
  In recent years, we have seen firsthand how burdensome policies have 
driven the Postal Service to resort to harsh measures to cut costs and, 
as a result, compromise delivery service. We must act now to set this 
critical institution on a sustainable financial footing by passing the 
Postal Service Reform Act.
  This bipartisan, commonsense legislation will save the Postal Service 
more than $49 billion in the next 10 years by eliminating the 
aggressive prefunding requirement for retiree health benefits and by 
integrating postal retirees' healthcare with Medicare.
  These changes will help ensure the Postal Service, which is self-
sustaining and does not receive taxpayer funding, can continue serving 
the people and avoid making severe cuts down the line that would impact 
millions of Americans. These reforms will also require the Postal 
Service to deliver 6 days a week so it can continue serving as a 
critical lifeline for countless communities that need timely delivery 
of their essential needs.
  This legislation will also make the Postal Service more transparent 
and accountable to the American people by making weekly local 
performance data publicly available online, enabling every single 
community to see exactly how the Postal Service is performing in their 
area.
  I introduced this legislation in the Senate last year and have worked 
hand in hand with Ranking Member Rob Portman from Ohio, as well as 
Chairwoman Maloney and Ranking Member Comer on the House Committee on 
Oversight and Reform, to craft this bill.
  Last month, the House passed this legislation with overwhelming 
bipartisan support. Last night, we saw this body advance it with 
significant bipartisan support once again. Now the Senate has a 
historic opportunity to move this legislation forward.
  I am proud to have helped secure significant bipartisan support for 
our Senate companion bill, with a total of 14 Democratic and 14 
Republican cosponsors backing the legislation.
  Together, we can finally, after more than 15 years, pass this 
commonsense, bipartisan legislation to set the Postal Service on a 
stable financial foot and bring it into the future. We can support our 
dedicated and hard-working postal employees, as well as the customers 
whom they serve. We can set the Postal Service up for success so that 
families and small businesses, veterans, seniors, and all Americans can 
continue to rely on this critical public

[[Page S855]]

service, as they have for generations. We can show the American people 
this body can set aside partisanship and work hand in hand to improve 
their lives.
  Every single day that we delay will just hurt the Postal Service. We 
must pass these urgently needed reforms. I urge all of my colleagues to 
support this legislation and pass it swiftly so that we can ensure the 
long-term success of this treasured institution and the essential role 
it plays in the lives of every single American.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Madam President, I rise today in support of the 
legislation that my colleague from Michigan just talked about. This is 
H.R. 3076, the Postal Service Reform Act. What it really is, though, is 
ensuring that the post office works, that it works for the constituents 
whom I represent and people all around the country.
  Unfortunately, right now, the post office is in trouble. It is in 
dire need of reform, and if we don't do it, we are going to have big 
problems. The post office just had its 15th consecutive annual net loss 
in 2021, and they projected they are going to be insolvent in the next 
few years unless we make these reforms and other reforms as well that 
can be made by the post office itself. In fact, they project a 10-year 
loss of $160 billion if we just continue with the status quo.
  The reality is that the Postal Service is delivering less and less 
first-class mail. We are all online. We are not sending as many letters 
as we used to. Yet there are more and more addresses that they deliver 
to because more and more people want to get the mail they do deliver, 
the packages, the direct mail, and so on. So it doesn't work. It is a 
recipe for ruin if we don't adjust to the new reality and make some 
necessary changes.
  Last year, Senator Peters and I did introduce the legislation he 
talked about. We had 26 cosponsors, equally divided between Republicans 
and Democrats. We kept this bipartisan from the start. In fact, I would 
even say we tried to keep it nonpartisan. What could be more 
nonpartisan than trying to save the post office? Everybody cares about 
the post office and wants to be sure it is working well and working 
efficiently. It is not a partisan issue; it is of importance to all 
Americans--young, old, urban, rural, everybody.
  I hear a lot about it back home from my constituents. A constituent 
from Butler County, OH, wrote me recently and said:

       My father, a veteran of the Vietnam war, has COPD and is 70 
     years old. He receives his lifesaving medication through the 
     mail. My father can't breathe without his daily inhaler.

  We have to be sure the post office works for him.
  A constituent from Montgomery County wrote:

       As a disabled veteran, I need to vote by mail.

  We have the ability to vote by mail in Ohio. It is no-fault absentee. 
But it requires the Postal Service to work, right? It doesn't work well 
if the ballot is late and is not counted.
  A constituent from Richland County, OH, wrote:

       The post office is essential to millions of Americans, 
     including seniors and veterans who depend on it for 
     medications, small business owners who are already 
     struggling.

  Everybody. Everybody.
  Putting the Postal Service on sound financial footing cannot be 
accomplished through an act of Congress alone. This is not just about 
passing a law here. We are going to do that. We had a good vote last 
night, and I think we will get more people supporting it, I hope, as we 
go through the week. But it is also about reforms that the post office 
is going to make itself.
  The current Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, has embarked on an 
ambitious plan to transform the Postal Service by finding efficiencies, 
including transforming existing capabilities to more efficiently meet 
the needs of the American people. He is taking on a 10-year plan to 
make certain changes to make the post office more efficient, but he has 
made clear to us that he needs the financial space to do that. He needs 
some headroom here by us making some important changes here in 
Congress.
  We have a role to play too. This is what we do:
  First, we eliminate a burdensome and unique prefunding requirement 
for retiree health benefits. Congress mandated this back in 2006 for 
current employees, regardless of age. That has crippled the Postal 
Service financially. Prefunding of retiree health benefits is not 
something that anybody else has to do. It is really uniquely the post 
office. The Federal Government does not do that. The private sector 
does not do that. In fact, very few private sector entities, of course, 
offer retiree health benefits. They rely on Medicare. So the Federal 
Government doesn't do it. The private sector doesn't do it. Why is the 
post office doing it? That is a good question. We are just trying to 
bring the post office in line with what everybody else is doing with 
regard to retiree health benefits.
  Second, it requires Postal Service employees who are retiring--who 
have been paying into Medicare their entire career, by the way--to 
actually enroll in Medicare Part B and Part D. Everybody is in Part A, 
but about 25 percent of postal employees are not in Part B. Instead, 
they rely on the Federal employee health benefit plan, which is far 
more expensive.

  This includes the ability for these post office retirees to get into 
Medicare Advantage. That is very important to me. So just like happens 
under current opportunities to enroll in Medicare Advantage under the 
Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, they would be able to use 
the Medicare Advantage Program, which I like. It is kind of a 
wraparound program that gives you more opportunities for more options 
and benefits. It is more like a private sector plan. A lot of my 
constituents in Ohio like it and use it.
  Currently, again, about 25 percent of postal employees don't enroll 
in Medicare even though they are eligible for it. Again, they paid 
their HI payroll tax, the HI tax you see on your paycheck. This means 
the Postal Service is currently paying higher premiums for FEHB than 
other public or private sector employers who require Medicare. This is 
a big savings for them.
  Third, it requires the Postal Service to maintain its current 
standard of 6-day-a-week delivery through an integrated delivery 
network of mail and packages. This was important to a lot of my 
colleagues--particularly those representing rural areas--that they keep 
this 6-day-a-week delivery. It is important to the guy who is from 
Butler County who gets his COPD medication through the mail. So it 
requires the post office to continue to do that even while finding 
other efficiencies.
  In terms of the integrated delivery network of mail and packages 
together, it underscores through a rule of construction that this has 
no impact on existing rules governing how the Postal Service attributes 
costs between packages and mail.
  Let me repeat that. We provide for an integrated delivery system of 
mail and packages, and that makes sense. If you are going to deliver 
mail to somebody, you should also be delivering the package, right? 
That is much more efficient. But we say that this has no impact on 
existing rules governing how the Postal Service attributes costs 
between packages and mail.
  This is important to me because this makes sure that the private 
sector will not be subject to unfair competition.
  In addition to doing all of these things, the Congressional Budget 
Office estimates that the bill will result in a little more than $1 
billion in savings in outlays and $458 million in savings in direct 
spending.
  The bottom line is, the Congressional Budget Office, CBO, the 
nonpartisan group up here in Congress, has looked at this and said 
there is going to be a $1.5 billion savings to the taxpayer because of 
this legislation--$1.5 billion savings to the taxpayer.
  Because it makes sense, this legislation received strong bipartisan 
support when it was taken up in the House of Representatives. In fact, 
it was passed by a vote of 342 to 92. Not much gets passed with those 
kinds of big bipartisan numbers these days. Republicans and Democrats 
alike looked at this and said: You know, the post office is in trouble. 
We have to do something.
  Some say: Well, this may not be perfect. Well, it is not perfect. 
Nothing is around here. But it is a whole lot better than the 
alternative, and it does get the post office back on track.

[[Page S856]]

Again, along with the reforms that are being undertaken at the Postal 
Service itself, this legislation gives them the financial breathing 
room they need to be able to save the post office.
  I encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill. Let's 
put the post office in a position to succeed and provide those 
essential services that small businesses, veterans, and rural 
constituents rely on so much.
  I appreciate working with my colleague Senator Peters on this over 
time to find consensus. Both sides had to make concessions to get to 
this point. We have ended up with a good bill. Let's pass this bill and 
ensure that the post office is healthy for our constituents moving 
forward.
  I yield the floor.

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