Once again, Congress is seeking to put its stamp on the U.S. Postal Service.
The House Government Reform Committee has called a meeting today for a vote on legislation that would provide the Postal Service with more flexibility in its services and business operations and free up money in an escrow account that could be used to hold down postage rates.
In the Senate, the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee plans to hold a hearing tomorrow on the finances and the future of the Postal Service. Postmaster General John E. Potter, David M. Walker, the head of the Government Accountability Office, and Bush administration officials are scheduled to testify.
Without relief from Congress, the Postal Service proposes to raise the price of a first-class stamp, currently 37 cents, by 2 cents, as part of a 5.4 percent across-the-board increase in postage rates. In general, it takes several months for the Postal Rate Commission, an independent agency, to collect industry data and hold hearings on a rate increase, so any postage increase would not take effect until next year.
The postage increase might be avoided if Congress opts to override Bush administration objections and repeal a law adopted in 2003.
That year, the Bush administration announced that the Postal Service was contributing too much to the civil service retirement fund and Congress agreed to reduce the agency's pension payments.
But Congress also directed the Postal Service to set up an escrow account for the so-called pension overpayments, pending the resolution of the overall legislative package. The law requires the Postal Service to put $3.1 billion into the escrow fund next year, but current postage rates will not cover that cost.
The president's fiscal 2006 budget, meanwhile, proposes to use the escrow money to cover some of the future health care costs of postal workers.
As part of the pension fix, the responsibility for retirement benefits related to military service was shifted to the Postal Service from the Treasury Department. That means the Postal Service needs an additional $1.5 billion to cover pension credits for past military service of postal workers.
The House and Senate bills would shift the military pension payments back to the Treasury. The White House is opposed, in part because the shift would add to the federal deficit.
Prospects for the postal legislation are uncertain. Similar legislation, sponsored by Reps. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) and John M. McHugh (R-N.Y.) and Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) gained unanimous approval in committees last year but did not come up for floor debates.
Although Bush administration officials appear engaged in the legislative debate, the tough negotiations probably will not begin until next month -- after the House and Senate committees have laid down their legislative markers.
Major mailers, postal unions and private-sector package services have large stakes in the House and Senate bills, which would reorganize key parts of the postal regulatory process and allow the Postal Service to reconfigure business methods adopted in the 1970s.
The Postal Service, like the legislation, also faces an uncertain future. While advertising mail has been increasing, the post office is losing first-class stamp revenue as Americans increasingly use e-mail and the Internet for correspondence, buying goods and paying bills.
Transit Benefits
Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) has introduced legislation that would expand transit benefits for government employees in the Washington area.
Under the proposal, a presidential executive order issued in 2000 would be converted into law, requiring agencies to provide a tax-free transit subsidy. Moran's bill also would expand the transit benefit to the legislative and judicial branches.
In the Washington area, more than 155,000 federal employees receive Metrocheks, or Fare Card vouchers. Current tax rules permit vouchers of up to $105 monthly.
The bill also would permit agencies to operate shuttle services between their offices and subway and rail transit centers. Under current law, agencies are prohibited from providing shuttle services if they are not a part of official business.
A similar transit bill, sponsored by Moran, was approved in committee last year.
Diary Live
J. Ward Morrow, assistant general counsel at the American Federation of Government Employees, will discuss civil service changes at the Defense Department at noon today on Federal Diary Live at www.washingtonpost.com. Please join us.
E-mail: barrs@washpost.com
