Washington, D.C. – 3/9/22 – Today, U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) released the following statement opposing the postal service reform bill:
“This postal service reform bill overpromised and under-delivered. The Postal Service is intended to operate as a self-financing, independent entity. However, this legislation requires taxpayers to foot the bill for retiree health benefits that the Postal Service promised to employees in retirement by shifting billions of dollars’ worth of their retiree health liabilities onto Medicare Part B and Part D. With insolvency of the Medicare trust fund looming and trillions in unfunded liabilities, Congress should be working to make this important program sustainable instead of undermining it further.
“For the last 15 years, the Postal Service has run a net financial loss and amassed $188 billion of unfunded liabilities, largely related to retiree benefits. Given the critical service USPS provides, it is imperative that any reform legislation update its outdated business model, stop the annual financial hemorrhaging, and create a long-term solution to rein in excessive operating expenses. Today’s bill, however, falls short of even these modest goals.”
Statement from Senator Bob Casey:
Washington, D.C. – 3/8/22 – Today, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) released the following statement on the Senate passage of the Postal Service Reform Act:
“The Postal Service Reform Act is a significant step toward modernizing one of the federal government’s most important functions. As I voted in favor of this bill, I thought about the Pennsylvanians I continue to hear from who are not receiving bills, prescriptions and other essential mail on time or at all. This bipartisan bill will help begin to solve this problem.
“While we work to implement these much-needed reforms, I will continue to press Postmaster General DeJoy to answer for the harm the changes he put in place over the past two years have caused. As long as mail is delayed in Pennsylvania, we’ve got more work to do.”
The Postal Service Reform Act will improve accountability, transparency and sustainability of the Postal Service. USPS will be required to provide at least six days of service per week and to create an online dashboard to track delivery times. The bill also makes several reforms to the Post Office’s finances which will save USPS tens of billions of dollars over the next ten years. These changes help ensure that the Postal Service can continue to offer its essential services to the American people.
