A bipartisan group of 20 U.S. senators launched laws on Wednesday to offer the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service (USPS) with $46 billion in monetary reduction over 10 years.
The U.S. Home of Representatives Oversight and Reform Committee voted unanimously to approve companion laws final week.
The laws would eradicate a requirement that USPS pre-fund retiree well being advantages for 75 years and would require postal staff to enroll within the Medicare government-retiree well being plan. As a substitute, USPS would pay a small, yearly “top-up” cost to deal with precise annual retiree prices.
The company has reported web losses of $86.7 billion since 2007. One cause is 2006 laws mandating that it pre-fund greater than $120 billion in retiree healthcare and pension liabilities, a requirement that labor unions have referred to as an unfair burden not shared by different companies.
“This commonsense, bipartisan laws would assist put the Postal Service on a sustainable monetary footing,” mentioned Senator Gary Peters, a Democrat who chairs the panel that oversees the Postal Service.
The Postal Service has struggled with poor supply efficiency over the previous yr, dealing with an enormous enhance in packages and COVID-19 staffing points.
The invoice would require USPS to take care of supply for six days every week.
A USPS spokesman mentioned on Wednesday the company was “inspired to see the introduction of bipartisan, bicameral postal reform language.” If handed, the monetary reforms “will likely be a significant step ahead for monetary sustainability of the Postal Service,” the spokesman added.
In March, Postmaster Common Louis DeJoy proposed a 10-year strategic plan that may eradicate $160 billion in forecasted crimson ink by slowing some mail deliveries, reducing some retail hours and shutting some areas.
DeJoy advised Reuters in March that motion was urgently wanted. “We’re dropping $10 billion a yr – gotta repair it,” he mentioned.
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