The President of the National Association of Postal Supervisors, Louis M. Atkins, will testify before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on Sept. 6 about the Postal Service’s financial crisis and the plans that the Postal Service has proposed to remedy this problem.

Atkins will be representing the collective interests of the three recognized management associations, including NAPS, the National Association of Postmasters of the United States and the National League of Postmasters.

Atkins plans to provide a response to the Postal Service’s plans and urge the Congress to work to return the billions of dollars that have been overpaid by the Postal Service in behalf of its employee’s retirement plans. With the Postal Service approaching insolvency, Atkins is concerned that the blame for the financial troubles has been pointed in the direction of managers, supervisors and employees.

Atkins said; “The loss of jobs that would result from these actions will be bad for the economy, but even more, it will result in a serious deterioration of service that the American public has come to expect from the Postal Service”.

The greatest factor contributing to today’s crisis is the 2006 the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act that imposes a burden on the USPS that no other government agency or private company bears. It mandates that the Postal Service “pre-fund” the healthcare benefits of future retirees and forces the USPS to pay for a 75-year obligation in just 10 years – at a cost of more than $5 billion annually.

The Congress has the ability to solve this crisis with legislation that would return overpayments to both CSRS and FERS retirement systems to the Postal Service that could be used to fund other obligations. This simple move would solve the crisis permanently.

The hearing will be Webcast live by the committee. To watch the hearing, visit the committee’s Web site. Video will be available approximately 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start of the proceedings. Video and details regarding the hearing can be found here.

Other witnesses scheduled to testify are: Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe; Jonathan Foley, Director of Planning and Policy Analysis for the Office of Personnel Management; Phillip R. Herr, Director of Physical Infrastructure Issues for the Government Accountability Office; Cliff Guffey, President, American Postal Workers Union; Ellen Levine, Editorial Director of Hearst Magazines, and Tonda F. Rush, Director of Public Policy for the National Newspaper Association.

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