NAPS: Senate Action on Postal Bill Could Heat Up Soon

Congressional lawmakers return to Washington today from a two-week recess.  Nearly right off the bat, there is a strong possibility that postal legislation will come up for action on the Senate floor as early as Tuesday.   This will occur after the Senate completes a procedural vote on a separate tax measure later today. The Senate […]

GAO: USPS Mail Processing Network Exceeds What Is Needed for Declining Mail Volume

The Government Accountability Office report on excess mail processing capacity in the US Postal Service. From letter to Lawmakers: The U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) dire financial situation has increased the urgency for agreement on an effective strategy to better align USPS’s postal services with its costs and revenues. USPS has noted that the decline in […]

APWU: One Week Left; Local Lobbying Efforts Take Off

APWU locals and state organizations are responding enthusiastically to the call to lobby their senators during the congressional recess, which began April 2 and ends April 13.  In addition to rallies and meetings with senators during the break, locals will conduct informational leafleting at post offices around the country on Tax Day, April 17.  The […]

NAPS: Congress Heads Home Post Haste without Delivering on Postal

NAPS Leg/Reg Update – April 2, 2012 Senate and House lawmakers are now home for their two-week recess.  The Senate headed home last week for the Easter/Passover holiday period after a week of fits and starts on postal legislation, including a failed cloture vote.  When lawmakers return to the nation’s capital on April 16, they […]

Hochul, Griffith & Noem Introduce Bipartisan Legislation Capping USPS Executive Pay

March 28, 2012 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representative Kathy Hochul (D-NY) yesterday was joined by Representatives Morgan Griffith (R-VA) and Kristi Noem (R-SD) in introducing the bipartisan Postal Executive Accountability Act, which limits compensation for executive officers of the United States Postal Service to the same level of pay as the President’s Cabinet. “I was proud […]

PMG Tells Congress: Take Postal Workers Out of Federal Healthcare Program

From the American Postal Workers Union: Healthcare Expert Rejects Claim of Cost Savings Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe urged lawmakers to take postal employees out of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) at a House hearing on March 27, claiming such a move would save the USPS $7 billion annually. The PMG said the […]

Senator Merkley to Introduce Amendment to Save Rural Post Offices

From the office of Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley: March 28, 2012 WASHINGTON, DC – Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley today announced that he will be offering an amendment to major legislation overhauling the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to save rural post offices now targeted for closure.  Merkley’s amendment would require that a post office closure cannot […]

Postmaster general supports ‘practically everything’ in draconian Issa-Ross bill

From the National Association of Letter Carriers: March 27, 2012 — Should we call H.R. 2309 the Issa-Ross (So-Called) Postal Reform Bill—or could we realistically call it the Issa-Donahoe (So-Called) Postal Reform Bill? Today, during a hearing of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee’s Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe was […]

APWU: Senate Debate on Postal Bill Expected in Mid-April

Use This Time to Advocate Union’s Position, APWU Says The Senate is now expected to consider a postal bill in mid-April, following a two-week congressional recess that begins Friday, APWU Legislative and Political Director Myke Reid reports. Senators were expected to begin debate this week, but discussion of a bill to repeal tax subsidies for […]