Senate Passes Sweeping Postal Service Reform Bill, Includes Schatz Legislation To Remove Unfair Cost Burden, Ensure Uninterrupted Mail Service For Hawai‘i Families
Bipartisan Bill Will Permanently Require Six-Day Mail Delivery; Legislation Now Heads To The President, Set To Become Law
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate today passed sweeping bipartisan legislation to help reform the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), dropping an unfair mandate to pre-fund its employees’ retirement health benefits, which will provide the USPS with significant financial relief and ensure mail service can continue uninterrupted.
“Everyone relies on mail service. It’s how we connect with each other, vote, pay our bills, and get medication or other things we need in life – so it needs to work,” said Senator Schatz. “This is an easy fix that will dramatically improve USPS’s finances and ensure mail delivery can continue uninterrupted.”
Schatz’s provision will eliminate billions in defaulted prefunding payments from USPS’s financials. It would not alter the USPS’s future retiree health liabilities payments from the Retiree Health Benefit Fund (RHBF). USPS may continue to pay its contributions for retiree health benefit premiums from the RHBF until it is depleted.
The Postal Service Reform Act will also provide for Medicare Integration for USPS retirees, permanently require six-day delivery, and enhance service standards and transparency to protect and improve USPS service going forward.
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