National League of Postmasters – April 19, 2012

There are some 79 amendments that have been officially noticed for S. 1789 and the Senate is in the process of trying to narrow down those that will simply be accepted by the managers of the bill, those that will have a vote, and those that will have neither a vote nor be accepted. The idea is to eliminate all (or as many as they can) of the non-germane amendments to the bill, and get senators with very similar amendments to combine their amendments.

Among them is a McCaskill/Merkley amendment that the League supports that will further improve small rural post offices position in the legislation, and other amendments to better the bill. There is also an amendment by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) to eliminate the postal monopoly, and another Rand amendment to drive up the premiums of the Federal Employee Health Benefits system.

Negotiations are intense and senators are pushing hard for their positions. A very strong contingent is insisting on yet better protections for small rural post offices–a position we strongly support.