Accomplishing Postal Reform in the 115Th Congress – H.R
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ACCOMPLISHING POSTAL REFORM IN THE 115TH CONGRESS – H.R. 756, THE POSTAL SERVICE REFORM ACT OF 2017 HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION FEBRUARY 7, 2017 Serial No. 115–13 Printed for the use of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov https://oversight.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 26–360 PDF WASHINGTON : 2017 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Nov 24 2008 14:52 Aug 15, 2017 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 H:\26360.TXT APRIL KING-6430 with DISTILLER COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM Jason Chaffetz, Utah, Chairman John J. Duncan, Jr., Tennessee Elijah E. Cummings, Maryland, Ranking Darrell E. Issa, California Minority Member Jim Jordan, Ohio Carolyn B. Maloney, New York Mark Sanford, South Carolina Eleanor Holmes Norton, District of Columbia Justin Amash, Michigan Wm. Lacy Clay, Missouri Paul A. Gosar, Arizona Stephen F. Lynch, Massachusetts Scott DesJarlais, Tennessee Jim Cooper, Tennessee Trey Gowdy, South Carolina Gerald E. Connolly, Virginia Blake Farenthold, Texas Robin L. Kelly, Illinois Virginia Foxx, North Carolina Brenda L. Lawrence, Michigan Thomas Massie, Kentucky Bonnie Watson Coleman, New Jersey Mark Meadows, North Carolina Stacey E. Plaskett, Virgin Islands Ron DeSantis, Florida Val Butler Demings, Florida Dennis A. Ross, Florida Raja Krishnamoorthi, Illinois Mark Walker, North Carolina Jamie Raskin, Maryland Rod Blum, Iowa Jody B. Hice, Georgia Steve Russell, Oklahoma Glenn Grothman, Wisconsin Will Hurd, Texas Gary J. Palmer, Alabama James Comer, Kentucky Paul Mitchell, Michigan JONATHAN SKLADANY, Staff Director WILLIAM MCKENNA, General Counsel JEFFREY POST, Government Operations Subcommittee Deputy Staff Director SHARON CASEY, Deputy Chief Clerk DAVID RAPALLO, Minority Staff Director (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 14:52 Aug 15, 2017 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\26360.TXT APRIL KING-6430 with DISTILLER C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on February 7, 2017 ......................................................................... 1 WITNESSES The Hon. Megan J. Brennan, Postmaster General, United States Postal Serv- ice Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 8 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 10 The Hon. Robert G. Taub, Chairman, Postal Regulatory Commission Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 29 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 31 Ms. Lori Rectanus, Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues, U.S. Government Accountability Office Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 64 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 66 Mr. Arthur Sackler, Manager, Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 88 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 90 Mr. Fredric V. Rolando, President, National Association of Letter Carriers Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 97 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 99 APPENDIX H.R. 756 Postal Service Reform Act of 2017, submitted by Mr. Chaffetz, can be accessed at: http://www.lis.gov/cgi-lis/query/z?c115:H.R.756: NARFE Statement for the Record, submitted by Mr. Connolly .......................... 140 Letter of February 1, 2017, from United Postmasters and Managers of Amer- ica, submitted by Mr. Lynch ............................................................................... 148 Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service Statement, submitted by Mr. Lynch ..................................................................................................................... 149 American Catalog Mailers Association PRNewswire, submitted by Mr. Lynch . 150 Letter of February 2, 2017, from Harland Clarke Holdings, submitted by Mr. Lynch ............................................................................................................. 151 Letter of February 1, 2017, from National Association of Postal Supervisors, submitted by Mr. Lynch ...................................................................................... 152 Response from the United States Postal Service to Questions for the Record ... 153 (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 14:52 Aug 15, 2017 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\26360.TXT APRIL KING-6430 with DISTILLER VerDate Nov 24 2008 14:52 Aug 15, 2017 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\26360.TXT APRIL KING-6430 with DISTILLER ACCOMPLISHING POSTAL REFORM IN THE 115TH CONGRESS – H.R. 756, THE POSTAL SERVICE REFORM ACT OF 2017 Tuesday, February 7, 2017 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM, Washington, D.C. The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:02 a.m., in Room 2157, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Jason Chaffetz [chair- man of the committee] presiding. Present: Representatives Chaffetz, Issa, Jordan, Amash, Gosar, Farenthold, Massie, Meadows, DeSantis, Ross, Walker, Blum, Hice, Grothman, Palmer, Comer, Mitchell, Cummings, Maloney, Norton, Clay, Lynch, Connolly, Kelly, Lawrence, Krishnamoorthi, and Raskin. Chairman CHAFFETZ. The Committee on Oversight and Govern- ment Reform will come to order. And without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a recess at any time. Thank you all for being here for an important topic that the com- mittee has some keen interest and jurisdiction in dealing with the postal reform that this Congress really needs to address. I want to thank Chairman Issa, the chairman previous to my be- coming the chairman, who really I think laid a foundation, did a great deal of work on this topic and issue. So I thank the chairman for all the progress that was made at that time, and hopefully, I think we have built on that. We are faced, though, with 10 consecutive years of financial losses at the Postal Service, totaling some $62 billion. And the United States Postal Service isn’t at a crossroad, it is at the cross- roads. It is up to this Congress to address the challenges facing the Postal Service, its customers, the businesses that rely on it, and the taxpayers who will bear the burden if we fail to act. What I think I want the public to understand is that, by and large, there is no appropriation that Congress makes to the Postal Service. The Postal Service has to offer products and generate rev- enue in order to sustain itself. But there are some things that Con- gress can do to put it on a more even playing field to make the sys- tem more fair as it moves forward. And there are some reform efforts, things that may seem small to the outside, small on the surface, but they can make literally bil- lions of dollars of difference in the financial equation for the Postal Service, and I would argue that as a tool of the economy, it is vital for us to have a good, strong, vibrant Postal Service. It happens to (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 14:52 Aug 15, 2017 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\26360.TXT APRIL KING-6430 with DISTILLER 2 actually be one of the few things that is actually in the Constitu- tion that we are supposed to be working on. So there are a lot of good things that we can do, but it really starts with the members in this room. Let’s understand that the difficulties facing the Postal Service are significant. Since 2006, the annual volume of mail delivered by the Postal Service has declined by roughly 30 percent. While some of these losses are offset by unprecedented growth in package deliv- ery, the new revenue is not enough. The Postal Service faces some $119 billion in unfunded liabilities, including $52 billion in liabil- ities just for retiree health care. Taxpayers will be left holding the bag for these liabilities if we fail to act. We don’t want to be in a situation where there has to be a bailout. We are trying to avoid a bailout. I want people and members to understand that a failure to act will lead us down that path. To its credit, the Postal Service has not sat by idly. Recognizing the challenges, the Postal Service embarked on aggressive cost-cut- ting measures during the last decade. The agency reduced its ca- reer employee headcount since 2006 by roughly 200,000 people. These are people, real people with families and incomes. But that is a dramatic change. I wish others in the Federal Government had maybe acted as responsibly as the Postal Service has because they were able to do it without resorting to layoffs. Unfortunately, despite these efforts, the Postal Service cannot fully address its challenges without legislative reform, and for that reason, the last Congress we worked very closely with Ranking Member Cummings. And I want to really thank him. I also