Coleman Praises Passage Of Postal Reform Bill

COLEMAN PRAISES PASSAGE OF POSTAL REFORM BILL

Senator Norm Coleman today applauded the Senate's unanimous passage of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act conference report, which will preserve the United States Postal Service as an affordable and universal mail service. This legislation improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the Postal Service by ensuring that postal managers have the ability to remain competitive, that unfunded liabilities be dealt with in a timely manner, that collective bargaining for postal employees be preserved, and that the pricing process for products and services is simplified. Additionally the bill caps rate increases so they stay at or below inflation which will prevent fluctuations in prices that could affect consumer demand. Coleman was a co-sponsor of the bill and worked for its passage through the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, on which he serves. The Postal Service is the linchpin of a $900 billion mailing industry that employs up to 11 million Americans in the Postal Service and a range of related industries.

"As one of the key infrastructures in our economy, the Postal Service needs to be equipped with the necessary tools for effectual management, yet, until now, postal reform has been on the backburner for decades," said Coleman. "An effective Postal Service is essential for Minnesota, where a large printing and mailing industry accounts for thousands of jobs and rural areas depend on it for access to a large variety of products. I am pleased that we were finally able to pass this much needed legislation to address the bureaucratic red tape in our postal system and give it more freedom to thrive."

"We want to commend Senator Norm Coleman for his hard work and leadership on the passage of the Postal Reform Bill," said Jim Andersen, president and CEO of IWCO Direct, a leading provider of integrated direct mail solutions based in Chanhassen, Minn. "Since being elected in 2002, the Senator has shown great leadership on this issue which is vitally important to the 200,000 Minnesotans whose jobs depend on direct marketing."

"Today's vote will help the Postal Service develop the tools it needs to remain viable for the 21st century, said John A. Greco, Jr., President and CEO of the Direct Marketing Association, which represents the interests of the mailing community in Minnesota and around the country. "DMA applauds Senator Coleman for his role in making sure that the Postal Service can continue to deliver the reliable, cost-effective service that consumers and businesses have come to expect."

Provisions of the bill include:

* Transforms the existing Postal Rate Commission into the Postal Regulatory Commission with greatly enhanced authority to ensure appropriate oversight over the postal management. Among other things, the Postal Regulatory Commission will have the authority to regulate rates for non-competitive products and services; ensure financial transparency; establish limits on the accumulation of retained earnings by the Postal Service; obtain information from the Postal Service, if need be, through the use of new subpoena power; and review and act on complaints filed by those who believe the Postal Service has exceeded its authority.

* Grants the Postal Service's Board of Governors the authority to set rates for competitive products like Express Mail and Priority Mail as long as these prices do not result in cross subsidy from market-dominant products. Establishes a 30-day prior review period during which the proposed rate changes shall be reviewed by the Postal Regulatory Commission.

* Introduces new safeguards against unfair competition by the Postal Service in competitive markets. Subsidization of competitive products by market-dominant products would be expressly forbidden and an appropriate allocation of institutional costs to competitive products would be required.

* Requires the Postal Service to file with the Postal Regulatory Commission certain Securities and Exchange Commission financial disclosure forms along with detailed annual reports on the status of the Postal Service's pension and postretirement health obligations in order to ensure increased financial transparency.

* Repeals a provision of Public Law 108-18 which requires that money owed to the Postal Service due to an overpayment into the Civil Service Retirement System Fund be held in an escrow account, which would essentially "free up" $78 billion over a period of 60 years. These savings to the Postal Service will be used to begin paying down its $50 billion unpaid retiree health obligations and to mitigate future rate increases.

* Returns to the Department of Treasury the responsibility for funding CSRS pension benefits relating to the military service of postal retirees. No other agency is required to make this payment.

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