U.S. SENATE— U.S. Senators Steve Daines (Mont.) and Brian Schatz (Hawaii) introduced a bipartisan bill, the “USPS Fairness Act,” to repeal an unfair mandate requiring the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to pre-fund its employees’ retirement health benefits. The USPS is the only federal agency that is subject to this requirement which has caused significant financial strain.
“The United States Postal Service is essential to Montanans across our state, especially for our seniors, veterans and rural communities,” Daines said. “My bipartisan bill will help the Postal Service stay in business providing world class delivery of our mail every day while also ensuring its employees maintain their benefits.”
“There is no reason we should be requiring the USPS to pre-fund its future health and retirement benefits. It’s an unnecessary burden that is jeopardizing its financial health,” said Schatz. “This is an easy fix that will dramatically improve USPS’s finances and ensure mail delivery can continue uninterrupted.”
This legislation would eliminate billions in defaulted prefunding payments from USPS’s financials. It would not alter the USPS’s future retiree health liabilities payments from the Retiree Health Benefit Fund (RHBF). If enacted, USPS could continue to pay its contributions for retiree health benefit premiums from the RHBF until it is depleted.
Daines and Schatz’s legislation has wide stakeholder support including: American Postal Workers Union, National Association of Letter Carriers, National Association of Postal Supervisors, National Postal Mail Handlers Union, National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, and Communications Workers of America.