IV

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. RES. 144

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that bonuses for managerial personnel of the United States Postal Service should not be awarded in any year in which the Postal Service anticipates that it will

operate at a deficit or in which a general increase in postal rates

has been requested, has gone into effect, or is likely to become effective.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 17, 2001

Mr. JONES of North Carolina submitted the following resolution; which was

referred to the Committee on Government Reform

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that

bonuses for managerial personnel of the United States

Postal Service should not be awarded in any year in

which the Postal Service anticipates that it will operate

at a deficit or in which a general increase in postal

rates has been requested, has gone into effect, or is

likely to become effective.

Whereas the United States Postal Service paid out

$280,000,000 in bonuses to managerial personnel in fiscal year 2000;

Whereas the Postal Service suffered a loss of $199,000,000

in fiscal year 2000, and projects that it will have losses

of $2,000,000,000 to $3,000,000,000 in fiscal year 2001;
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Whereas the amount paid by the Postal Service in bonuses

to managerial personnel in fiscal year 2000 represented

only a fraction of the total bonus amounts that were in

fact awarded to such personnel in that fiscal year, with

the balance often to be paid out in subsequent years (including, in some cases, after retirement);

Whereas managerial personnel of the Postal Service may receive compensation up to the rate for level I of the Executive Schedule, which is greater than the rate of pay for

a Federal judge and equal to the rate of pay for the head

of an Executive department;

Whereas, by receiving the balance of one’s bonus after retirement, some postal managers are able to circumvent even

that statutory limitation;

Whereas the Inspector General of the United States Postal

Service has testified that postal bonus payments have increased from 16 percent of net income in fiscal year 1996

to 325 percent of net income in fiscal year 2000;

Whereas the justification for postal bonuses is increased productivity;

Whereas the Comptroller General of the United States has

testified that the Postal Service has not demonstrated an

ability to sustain even modest productivity gains;

Whereas Postal Service productivity has increased by only 11

percent over 30 years and, during the period from 1990

to 1998, actually decreased by 0.6 percent, while nongovernmental productivity grew by 7 percent during that

same period;

Whereas the Postal Service received an overall 4.6 percent

postal rate increase effective January 7, 2001, and some
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postal categories were required to pay increases of as

much as 15 percent;

Whereas, on February 6, 2001, the Postal Service suggested

that it will seek an additional 15 to 20 percent increase

in postal rates, including an increase of as much as 30

percent in some postal categories; and

Whereas the Inspector General of the United States Postal

Service has testified that, at a time when the Postal

Service is requesting further rate increases, it is projecting negative net income: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that bonuses for managerial personnel of the

3 United States Postal Service should not be awarded in any

4 year in which the Postal Service anticipates that it will

5 operate at a deficit or in which a general increase in postal

6 rates has been requested, has gone into effect, or is likely

7 to become effective.

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