The USPS Fairness Act
For over a decade, the United States Postal Service has been plagued with the onerous burden of prefunding its retiree health care benefits as mandated by the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) of 2006. The mandate requires the Postal Service to prefund its retiree health care benefits 75 years in advance, paying for retirement health care for individuals who haven’t been born yet, let alone enter the workforce.
THE PROBLEM
Since 2013, the prefunding mandate is responsible for 100% of the Postal Service’s net losses, and it has defaulted on its prefunding payments since 2012. No other federal agency or private sector business prefunds its retirement benefits. The uncertainty inherent in satisfying the PAEA prefunding mandate is creating real instability in the Postal Service’s operations. The postal employees we represent see the consequences of this instability in their work, their workplaces, and in the service they provide the public.
THE SOLUTION – H.R. 2382 & S.2965
Recognizing the problem prefunding creates, the US House of Representatives recently passed the USPS Fairness Act, H.R. 2382 with a sweeping bi-partisan vote of 309-106. The Senate, led by Senators Steve Daines (R-MT) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) introduced identical legislation, S. 2965 on December 3, 2019. Both bills fully repeal the prefunding mandate and revert back to a pay-as you-go system that the postal Service used prior to PAEA.
By repealing the prefunding mandate, the Postal Service would then be able to focus on investing and innovating new services in order to better meet its mission to service every American household and business.
Please contact your Senator and ask them to become a co-sponsor (or thank them if they have already signed on.) Call 844-402-1001 to be connected to your Senator’s office.
RESOURCES
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