the postal service to pay health benefits payments for current retirees out of vat assets to the postal service retirees health benefits funds in fiscal year two thousand and nine through two thousand and eleven the postal service is facing a financial emergency in the first half of this year mail volume dropped by more than ten billion pieces and the postal service lost over two billion dollars by the end of the fiscal year two thousand and nine it expects to lose over six billion dollars current law requires the postal service to make premium payments for the health benefits of its current retirees using postal service operating funds r twenty two would allow the postal service to pay these premiums out of the trust one and fiscal year two thousand and nine through two thousand and eleven the legislation would save the postal service about two billion dollars this year the trust fund currently has about thirty two billion dollars in it h r twenty two would not alter the legal requirements for the postal service to pay over five billion annually until the trust on last would continue to grow h r twenty two allows the postal service to live to fight another day giving the postal service and this committee time to work together to address the important legislation before the committee today i also would like to thank chairman lynch and ranking member chaffetz for holding two extensive hearings and their work on getting this legislation before us promptly the chairman as you know we now have three hundred thirty seven co sponsors this is perhaps the most bipartisan piece of legislation we worked on this year additionally this is an issue that our departing member  has in fact been championing for a period of time recognizing before many of us the importance of maintaining the post offices constitutional ability to deliver the mail and congress mandate that they be in fact internally self funded for that reason i'm going to yield the balance of my time to mr mchugh the author of the bill and a champion who unfortunately will be departing us in all likelihood shortly partner on so many things postal danny davis the gentleman from illinois i think it needs to be underscored what the chairman the full committee said that not only will this bill not interrupt the unique position no other federal agency has one single dollar prefunding in their health care for retirees other than the postal service but in fact that prefunding will grow even under this bill from thirty two billion to seventy five billion the other fact is there's not a single dollar of tax payer or appropriated monies in this the technical scoring by c b l is they admit is based on a projection of change of behavior no taxpayer dollars this is as  both mr rice and the chairman said simply an effort to allow the postal service an opportunity to regain its footing footing that in large measure this congress or a bill that i also hope to work on took from under them based on a pre funding requirement the postal service it's hundreds of thousands of employees do wonderful work for us six days a week actually seven days a week and we need to do this bill to allow them to continue on our behalf and i thank the speech before going over to the white house and you could be making history and making sense at the same time today's consideration of h r twenty two was amended and reported by our subcommittee as chairman of the subcommittee on the federal workforce postal service in the district combi a i've had a couple of oversight hearings on the financial conditions of the postal service already this year and we've got another one coming up the end of this month and at each of the hearing the news about the state of the postal service finances says gone from bad to continually worse as we all know the postal service is faced with rising costs an unprecedented declines in mail volume the postal service lost two point two billion dollars in the first two quarters of fiscal year two thousand and nine and lost another seven hundred million dollars in may two thousand and nine alone last year through a drop in the economy and also low utilization rates people paying their bills online there were nine point five billion pieces of mail taken out of the system it is incurred the postal service has incurred net losses in ten of the last eleven quarters revenue losses largely attributed to declining mail volume which for example was twenty percent last in may two thousand and nine then in may two thousand and eight despite recent across the board efforts to cut costs by reducing work hours and instituting a hiring freeze and closing some administrative offices the postal service is now facing a potential cash shortfall of one point five billion dollars by the end of two thousand and nine and is quickly approaching a critical financial state i want to emphasize that we are approaching a critical financial state and the postal service and i know the comptroller general is watching this very closely and the we'll have more news on that later but postal officials have warned us that they will have trouble making their payroll and have initiated a nationwide program to study closing smaller postal reese retail facilities across the country we are in an area an area of  business not business as usual given the consensus among the postal service and stakeholders that congress needs to take action to help the postal service mitigate his losses and to live to see another day at the end of june the subcommittee convene in approved a twenty two after amending the bill's applicable period from eight to three years and that was of course done for a number of reasons with cost being primary i'd also like to mention that the measure we are currently considering is only meant to be temporary relief and that h r twenty two should not be a substitute for longer term solutions to the postal service's financial problems which our subcommittee will continue to closely examine i'd also like to thank again congressman mchugh and davis for their work on this effort which i'm sure we were all pleased to see coming to fruition this morning in closing mr chairman while the postal service problems will not be easy to address we must nevertheless take them on to avoid a scenario where the postal service comes hat in hand to the taxpayer i don't believe there is a any appetite out there for a bailout obv the postal service by the taxpayer therefore i again expressed my support of approving in approving h r twenty two as amended by the subcommittee and i hope my colleagues here today will do the same thank you mr chairman and i yield back the balance of our time thanks very much thank you gentlemen for his work as well and i think you five minutes to mr mchugh i know his commitment his groundwork that has been laid the number sheer number of co sponsors of this legislation is a reflection of his commitment dedication and work in putting this piece of legislation together it is vital and important to the post office the postal service and its function and has broad bipartisan support of a proud supporter of it look forward to its passage and thanks again to mr mchugh and the great work that he did it laying the foundation to to get to this day here today forward and mr lynch and mr davis mr mchugh everyone he's worked very hard to to help of the united states postal service the postal service in the district i'm honored to represent was attacked with anthrax and they responded heroically kept the mail going in as they do every day and this is an important bill to to help them with their finances moving forward mr mchugh i just have to mention what a heroic a job you've done for postal for our country during your time on this committee and i commend you on your appointment your moving on is good for the nation and for the army but a loss for our committee and for our congress my husband his family lives in  district in upstate new york and i have seen the tremendous job that he has done to bring postal services to areas that do not have a great number of people living there there's some areas in new york where there are more bare and deer than there are people but they have their post office and mr mchugh is one of the reasons why that post office is there serving people across the united states wherever they live and if he is a been a heroic champion for upstate new york and for the postal service so i just applaud your your your service on this on this landmark legislation and other land that martin legislation in the postal it has been a has been a cause of yours a a journey a commitment to support the postal service and certainly we appreciate your service congratulations on your appointment and i'm a strong supporter of h r twenty two thanks very much and in the other members seeking recognition  administration and to tell him that his tireless efforts particularly on behalf of the postal service will be put very much missed and very much appreciate facing perhaps our country and that is the failing business model of the postal service which none of us can do much about the postal service is not subsidized and must depend upon revenue from a business model that is gradually becoming antique and they cannot see subsidies here they cannot seek relief here the least we can do is to help them deal with the greatest cost that any business faces today and that is escalating health costs and here unlike most businesses there is a a trust fun and we are moving  the years forward when that trust fund would become operative and in any case one has to wonder how the postal service which is wondrously let let left standing being hit from all sides by technology and by a recession one has to wonder how they have been had been bang for health costs out of operating revenue until now i think this bill is not only important it's vital if you want to continue to have a pulse or service and remember that one thing members have insisted upon is that there be a continuing postal service something's gotta give the first thing that i think any business would look to have give would be precisely what this bill does that is help with the escalating escalating health care services and mistaken recognition i now call of h r twenty two the united states postal service financial relief act of two thousand and nine h r twenty two a bill to amend chapter eighty nine of title five united states code to allow as adopted and used as in the original text for purposes of amendment with without objection so on it are there any amendments to the bill hearing no amendments i now move that committee on oversight and government reform report h r twenty two to the house with the recommendation that the bill to pass the question is on favorably reporting h r twenty two to the house all those in favor say  poses no in the opinion of the chair the eyes have it and the motion is agreed to and h r twenty two is ordered reported r thirty one thirty seven post office commemorative plaque bill the committee will now consider h r thirty one thirty seven a bill to allow the postal service to accept donations for commemorative plaques this bill would clarify that the postal exempt monetary donations for such plaques as post office post office that have been renamed by congress the bill would in some cases reduce or eliminate the financial burden of the postal service to pay for commemorative plaques while allowing individuals or groups to demonstrate their support for the person for whom a post office is named i urge all members to support the legislation i yield to the ranking member congressman i said well thank you mr chairman and thank you for bringing this here today this is a bill that you and i talked about and began to realize that it was time to have the the often on the floor naming  post offices which we think are important to recognize leaders most of them fall and heroes but at the same time be able to say to the american people this is fully funded outside of either your stamps or federal dollars so i believe that by creating this charitable capability implicitly or explicitly in the bill we do two things we encourage the generosity of people when they have a particular naming a particular plaque in mind but also recognizing that in some communities in america the dollars would not be available for that to that extent i and a vision that this will facilitate an ongoing fund in which when there are dollars or desire those dollars will be part of the community's desire to have something named after a particular individual and when there are not dollars the fund will be sufficient to take care of those so that we can all say as we name post offices and other commemorative plaques here in congress that it is neither done with postal stamp money or with federal dollars and i think that we can all be proud of the at the number of post offices that we continue to designate i think in fact we will run out of names before we run out of post offices but with a name in junior but but what i think this measure which allows charitable contributions to help out help defray this small cost is a reasonable measure and i think as as the ranking member has pointed out while it's a minimal cost i think there are occasions i know that  my district we recently designated a post office on behalf of rocky marciano and the was there was widespread support in the community of brockton massachusetts and there are a lot of those instances where  hearing no amendments i now move that the committee on oversight and government reform report h r thirty one thirty seven to the house with the recommendation that the bill do passed the question is on favorably report in the house put in the bill to the house all those in favor say aye aye oppose it independent of the chair the eyes have it the motion to it is agreed to and h r thirty one thirty seven is audit report resolutions and post the name in the bill the final order of business will be will be resolutions and post the name in bills i ask unanimous consent that these resolutions bills be it and block and read and open to amendment at any time these resolutions and post a name in bills include h r read as two or nine introduced by representative carolyn maloney of new york it recognizes the contributions of american citizens of greek ancestry and as well as the goals and objection sought it h r rep three seventy three introduced by representative michele bachmann of minnesota expresses support for the goals and ideals of national hijo violence awareness introduced by represent maxine waters of california congratulated two thousand and eight two thousand and nine national basketball association champions the los angeles lakers on an outstanding and historic season h read as six twelve introduced by congresswoman eleanor holmes norton of the district of columbia expresses the deepest sympathy of the house of represents for the victims of the tragic metro rail accident on monday june twenty second two thousand  hundred thirteen introduced by representative dan boring of oklahoma designates the south central agricultural research laboratory at the department of agriculture in lane oklahoma and a facility of the united states postal service and binghamton oklahoma and i know former congresswoman wesley wes watkins h r twenty eight seventy seven to do so by representative john hall of new york designates a facility of the united states postal service didn't chester new york as the first  jr post office h r thirty seven two introduced by representative william lacy clay of missouri designates of the so that united states postal service located in st louis missouri as the coach jody bailey post office building r thirty one one thousand introduced by represent of nancy pelosi of california designate the a facility of the united states postal service located and san francisco california as the lampoon the post office having satisfied the committee's criteria each of these marriages are worthy of support and i therefore urge the adoption does your ranking member have any comments on these bills briefly mr chairman thank you mr chairman i reviewed the postal namings and resolutions and find they meet the committee requirements i will note that in the case of one of them it has ninety six percent signed on as a co sponsor and no dissents in support therefore it fully meets the requirements and traditions of to try to save lives in the course of doing that lost her own and we're obviously working with the delegate norton and majority leader hoyer and other members of the regional delegation working diligently to try to make sure that we understand what caused that track tragic accident and make sure the nation's capital metro system remains the safest in america thank you yes congresswoman maloney very briefly i ask permission to revise and extend my remarks and place them in the record to thank you in the ranking member for your support it out of jury saw two of nine recognizing the contributions of american citizens of greek ancestry and their remarkable contributions to our country as the founder and co chair of the   this resolution was put on this markup of the metro accident was one of the worst in the nation's history six of the district of columbia three were from the region but bear in mind that this is the system that brings most federal workers to and to do and from service to service of the american people and most members most staff members members of congress so this accident of national significance and i very much