From
NM Politics.net - By
Congressman Steve Pearce - The United States Postal Service (USPS) is about to default on its loan from the U.S. government. Many facilities, especially in rural areas of New Mexico, are faced with closure. Understandably, customers are frustrated, and want to know how it got this bad in the first place. They deserve answers and they deserve solutions. USPS officials and some members of the various postal employee unions recently stated that they believe a piece of legislation,
H.R 1351, United States Postal Service Pension Obligation Recalculation and Restoration Act, is the answer. This bill would bail out the USPS pension program. After all, we are told, USPS has overpaid into the Civil Service Retirement System by $50 billion to $75 billion since 1974. But the notion of an “overpayment” is simply false. In 1971, the Postal Department, a cabinet agency receiving direct appropriations from Congress, was disbanded, and replaced by USPS, which functions on revenue from stamp sales and other retail endeavors. The formula that USPS and the government agreed upon required the taxpayer to pay the pension costs for employees of the Postal Department, but USPS would pay the pension costs for any employee who remained with USPS after the Department’s dissolution. Since business began to slow a couple of years ago, USPS began calling this formula “unfair.” However, in 1973, the general counsel for USPS wrote a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives stating that the agreement was “proper” and that “the cost of this liability should properly and equitably be borne the by Postal Service.” Otherwise, taxpayers would have to foot the bill for USPS retirees. The timing of the “overpayment” allegation is curious indeed, and shows a trend within most government agencies – the inability and unwillingness to make tough decisions. I did not vote to bail out the big banks, and I will not vote to bail out USPS.
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I won’t vote to bail out the postal service
From NM Politics.net - By Congressman Steve Pearce - The United States Postal Service (USPS) is about to default on its loan from the U.S. government. Many facilities, especially in rural areas of New Mexico, are faced with closure. Understandably, customers are frustrated, and want to know how it got this bad in the first place. They deserve answers and they deserve solutions. USPS officials and some members of the various postal employee unions recently stated that they believe a piece of legislation, H.R 1351, United States Postal Service Pension Obligation Recalculation and Restoration Act, is the answer. This bill would bail out the USPS pension program. After all, we are told, USPS has overpaid into the Civil Service Retirement System by $50 billion to $75 billion since 1974. But the notion of an “overpayment” is simply false. In 1971, the Postal Department, a cabinet agency receiving direct appropriations from Congress, was disbanded, and replaced by USPS, which functions on revenue from stamp sales and other retail endeavors. The formula that USPS and the government agreed upon required the taxpayer to pay the pension costs for employees of the Postal Department, but USPS would pay the pension costs for any employee who remained with USPS after the Department’s dissolution. Since business began to slow a couple of years ago, USPS began calling this formula “unfair.” However, in 1973, the general counsel for USPS wrote a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives stating that the agreement was “proper” and that “the cost of this liability should properly and equitably be borne the by Postal Service.” Otherwise, taxpayers would have to foot the bill for USPS retirees. The timing of the “overpayment” allegation is curious indeed, and shows a trend within most government agencies – the inability and unwillingness to make tough decisions. I did not vote to bail out the big banks, and I will not vote to bail out USPS. Read more
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