Although comprehensive postal reform has yet to move forward, leaders in the House and Senate chose to include some restrictions on the Postal Service in the recently passed “omnibus” spending bill that will fund the government through September of 2014.
The $1.1T (yes, that’s a T for Trillion!) federal spending bill ended up 1,582 pages long and contained two policy restrictions on the USPS. Page 541 of the bill bars the USPS from discontinuing Saturday delivery as well as restricting the closure of rural post offices. These measures, although only good through September, are good news for lessors in rural areas and consumers who depend on Saturday mail. The text of the provision is included below.
We must keep in mind on closures, that this restriction only accounts for the funding that is appropriated from the Congress (the $70M+ mentioned below). We are certain that USPS will continue to attempt to close facilities with other funds and loopholes in closure procedures. For this reason, please continue to work with the Association staff on issues you are facing at the USPS. We will continue to work with Members of Congress to ensure that they are aware of the issues facing the lessor community.
Even with the measures in the omnibus, we continue to work with Members of Congress on COMPREHENSIVE reform measures that will lead to the long term stability of the Postal Service. House and Senate leaders continue to work towards solving the differences in their bills and moving forward on a plan for comprehensive reform.
We look forward to seeing you all at the annual conference in New Orleans to talk about our legislative efforts and the year ahead. We hope you are also planning on joining us in June for our second annual “AUSPL Hill Day”.
UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE – PAYMENT TO THE POSTAL SERVICE FUND
1. For payment to the Postal Service Fund for revenue forgone on free and reduced rate mail, pursuant to sub-sections (c) and (d) of section 2401 of title 39, United States Code, $70,751,000, which shall not be available for obligation until October 1, 2014: Provided, That mail for overseas voting and mail for the blind shall continue to be free: Provided further, That 6-day delivery and rural delivery of mail shall continue at not less than the 1983 level: Provided further, That none of the funds made available to the Postal Service by this Act shall be used to implement any rule, regulation, or policy of charging any officer or employee of any State or local child support enforcement agency, or any individual participating in a State or local program of child support enforcement, a fee for information requested or provided concerning an address of a postal customer: Provided further, That none of the funds provided in this Act shall be used to consolidate or close small rural and other small post offices in fiscal year 2014.