NAPUS – May 21, 2014
On Wednesday afternoon, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee approved H.R. 4670, the “Secure Delivery for America Act,” by a 18-13 party-line vote. The legislation, which Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) introduced on Monday, would require the Postal Service to convert 14 million door deliveries to either centralized, curbside or sidewalk, over the next decade. The bill calls for the conversion of 1.4 million delivery points per year, through 2024. Postal customers who desire to maintain door delivery, in converted locations, would be charged a fee.
As introduced, H.R. 4670 would have established a USPS “voucher program” to help homeowners defray the cost of establishing curbside or sidewalk mail receptacles. Ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings (D-MD) offered an amendment that would require the USPS to cover the conversion cost, rather than impose the cost on homeowners. Also, the Cummings amendment would have eliminated the numerical conversion targets. Chairman Issa accepted the elimination of the voucher, but opposed the elimination of the annual targets. 
The committee adopted an amendment proposed by Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) to provide for a broad waiver for postal customers who are disabled, or otherwise unable to access alternative delivery modes.
Rep. Steve Lynch (D-MA) offered an amendment to require the refund to the USPS of its surplus pension contributions, but the chairman ruled the amendment “out of order” for not being “germane” to the bill. Lynch also offered an amendment to eliminate the fee charged to maintain door deliveries in converted areas. This amendment was defeated on a voice vote.
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) offered two amendments. One would have mandated the continuation of six-day delivery and the other would have eliminated the retiree health pre-funding requirement; Chairman Issa ruled both “out of order.”
During the mark-up of the bill, Issa remarked that it was his intent to urge the House to adopt a narrow postal reform bill, that would be a patchwork of small bills that his committee has already approved, and would include provisions from the President Obama’s postal relief plan. At the end of the day, a postal bill will only be as good as the sum of its parts.