Now that both Congressional committees have passed their versions of the bill to relieve the U.S. Postal Service of its prior retirement obligations, mailer groups are stepping up their efforts to lobby Congress to pass such a bill.
“To get the attention of most people in Congress on this, you have to have everything signed and sealed with duct tape,” said Neal Denton, executive director of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers.
Late last year, the USPS discovered it had overpaid by about $71 million the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) fund that pays its retirees. But Congress has to pass legislation to allow the USPS to use this money for other purposes.
But obstacles remain and its uncertain if Congress can act on this in time to avoid a new rate case filing which could come as soon as April.
For one thing, both houses of Congress are scheduled to take up the Omnibus budget resolution next week and won’t be able to get to get to these bills.
“It’s going to take at least a week for Congress to even take this up,” said Bob McLean, executive director of the Mailer’s Council.
He feels that e-mails and letters from mailing groups is having An effect on this issue. He points to the fact that the bills already have 13 co-sponsors in the Senate and 24 in the House.
Next, both the House and Senate are going to have to pass their own versions of the bill and the house Budget Committee must assign the bill a code to determine its importance relative to other money-related matters in Congress, according to Gene Del Polito, president of the Association for Postal Commerce.
On Thursday, the House Government Reform Committee passed HR 773, its version of the bill to transfer the retirement payments to other governmental departments a day after the Senate Government Affairs panel passed S 338, its version.
“With this, the USPS probably won’t file a case until this summer,” estimated Del Polito.
Others aren’t so sure.
“If I were the Postal Service, I wouldn’t rely on this until it’s signed into law,” said Neal Denton, executive director of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers.
There are of course other matters on the minds of Congress right now, not the least of which is potential war with Iraq.
“I can predict the outcome if this bill isn’t passed,” said McLean. “I can’t predict the outcome of a war with Iraq.
Network
