II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1688 

To amend the provisions of title 5, United States Code, relating to the 

methodology for calculating the amount of any Postal surplus or supplemental liability under the Civil Service Retirement System, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 12, 2011 

Ms. MIKULSKI introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the provisions of title 5, United States Code, 

relating to the methodology for calculating the amount 

of any Postal surplus or supplemental liability under 

the Civil Service Retirement System, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Save Our Postal Work5 er Jobs Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

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1 (1) The Inspector General of the United States 

2 Postal Service has reported that— 

3 (A) the Postal Service has overpaid into 

4 the Civil Service Retirement System by as much 

5 as $75,000,000,000; and 

6 (B) the Postal Service has overpaid into 

7 the Federal Employees’ Retirement System by 

8 as much as $6,800,000,000. 

9 (2) The Postal Service announced that it may 

10 have lost as much as $10,000,000,000 in fiscal year 

11 2011. 

12 (3) The Postal Service has proposed reducing 

13 the number of employees of the Postal Service by 

14 more than 200,000 through attrition and layoffs. 

15 SEC. 3. MODIFIED METHODOLOGY. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8348(h) of title 5, United 

17 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol18 lowing: 

19 ‘‘(4)(A) To the extent that a determination under 

20 paragraph (1), relating to benefits attributable to civilian 

21 employment with the United States Postal Service, is 

22 based on any provision of law described in subparagraph 

23 (C), such determination shall be made in accordance with 

24 such provision and any otherwise applicable provisions of 

25 law, subject to the following: 

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1 ‘‘(i) The ‘average pay’ used in the case of any 

2 individual shall be a single amount, determined in 

3 accordance with section 8331(4), taking into account 

4 the rates of basic pay in effect for such individual 

5 during the periods of creditable service performed by 

6 such individual. Nothing in this subsection shall be 

7 considered to permit or require— 

8 ‘‘(I) one determination of average pay with 

9 respect to service performed with the United 

10 States Postal Service; and 

11 ‘‘(II) a separate determination of average 

12 pay with respect to service performed with its 

13 predecessor entity in function. 

14 ‘‘(ii) In determining the portion of an annuity 

15 attributable to civilian employment with the United 

16 States Postal Service, with respect to any period of 

17 employment with the United States Postal Service 

18 that follows any other period of employment cred19 itable under section 8332 (without regard to whether 

20 such employment was with an entity referred to in 

21 clause (i)(II)), the total service of an employee for 

22 purposes of any provision of law described in sub23 paragraph (C) shall be the sum of— 

24 ‘‘(I) any period of employment with the 

25 United States Postal Service; and 

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1 ‘‘(II) any period of employment creditable 

2 under section 8332 that precedes the period de3 scribed in subclause (I). 

4 ‘‘(B)(i) Not later than 6 months after the date of en5 actment of this paragraph, the Office shall determine (or, 

6 if applicable, redetermine) the amount of the Postal sur7 plus or supplemental liability as of the close of the fiscal 

8 year most recently ending before such date of enactment, 

9 in conformance with the methodology required under sub10 paragraph (A). 

11 ‘‘(ii)(I) If the result of the determination or redeter12 mination under clause (i) is a surplus, the Office shall 

13 transfer the amount of such surplus to the Postal Service 

14 Retiree Health Benefits Fund not later than 15 days after 

15 the date of such determination or redetermination. 

16 ‘‘(II) If a determination or redetermination under 

17 clause (i) for a fiscal year is made before the Office makes 

18 a redetermination under paragraph (2)(B) with respect to 

19 the fiscal year, the Office may not make a determination 

20 under paragraph (2)(B) with respect to the fiscal year. 

21 ‘‘(C) The provisions of law described in this subpara22 graph are— 

23 ‘‘(i) the first sentence of section 8339(a); and 

24 ‘‘(ii) section 8339(d)(1). 

25 ‘‘(5) For purposes of this subsection— 

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1 ‘‘(A) the term ‘Postal Service Retiree Health 

2 Benefits Fund’ means the fund established under 

3 section 8909a; and 

4 ‘‘(B) the term ‘Postal Service Fund’ means the 

5 fund established under section 2003 of title 39.’’. 

6 (b) COORDINATION PROVISIONS.— 

7 (1) AMENDMENT.—Section 8909a of title 5, 

8 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

9 end the following: 

10 ‘‘(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 

11 amount payable by the Postal Service under subsection (d) 

12 in any fiscal year ending on or before September 30, 2021, 

13 shall be determined without regard to the requirements 

14 under section 8348(h)(4).’’. 

15 (2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this 

16 Act, or an amendment made by this Act, shall be 

17 construed to affect the amount of any benefits other18 wise payable from the Civil Service Retirement and 

19 Disability Fund to any individual. 

20 (c) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—The heading for sec21 tion 8909a of title 5, United States Code, is amended by 

22 striking ‘‘Benefit’’ and inserting ‘‘Benefits’’. 

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1 SEC. 4. ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8348(h)(2) of title 5, 

3 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 

4 following: 

5 ‘‘(F) Notwithstanding any other provision of this sub6 section, for purposes of determining the Postal surplus or 

7 supplemental liability for each of fiscal years 2016, 2017, 

8 2018, 2019, and 2020— 

9 ‘‘(i) paragraph (4)(A) shall not apply to a de10 termination under paragraph (1); and 

11 ‘‘(ii) the determination under paragraph (1) 

12 shall be made by applying the methodology that was 

13 used to carry out this paragraph with respect to the 

14 fiscal year preceding the fiscal year referred to in 

15 paragraph (4)(B)(i).’’. 

16 (b) RELATING TO A POSTAL SURPLUS.—Section 

17 8348(h)(2)(C) of title 5, United States Code, is amend18 ed— 

19 (1) by inserting ‘‘2021,’’ after ‘‘2015,’’; and 

20 (2) by striking ‘‘if the result is’’ and all that 

21 follows through ‘‘terminated.’’ and inserting the fol22 lowing: ‘‘if the result is a surplus— 

23 ‘‘(i) that amount shall be transferred— 

24 ‘‘(I) to the Postal Service Retiree Health 

25 Benefits Fund, if the surplus is for fiscal year 

26 2020 or a preceding fiscal year; and 

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1 ‘‘(II) to the Postal Service Fund, if the 

2 surplus is for fiscal year 2021 or a subsequent 

3 fiscal year; and 

4 ‘‘(ii) any prior amortization schedule for pay5 ments shall be terminated.’’. 

6 SEC. 5. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN SURPLUS RETIREMENT 

7 CONTRIBUTIONS. 

8 Section 8423(b) of title 5, United States Code, is 

9 amended— 

10 (1) by redesignating paragraph (5) as para11 graph (6); and 

12 (2) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol13 lowing: 

14 ‘‘(5) If, for fiscal year 2010, the amount computed 

15 under paragraph (1)(B) is less than zero (in this section 

16 referred to as ‘surplus postal contributions’), the amount 

17 of such surplus postal contributions shall be transferred— 

18 ‘‘(A) to the Postal Service Retiree Health Bene19 fits Fund to pay any liability to the Postal Service 

20 Retiree Health Benefits Fund for fiscal year 2011; 

21 ‘‘(B) if all liability to the Postal Service Retiree 

22 Health Benefits Fund for fiscal year 2011 has been 

23 paid, to the Employees’ Compensation Fund estab24 lished under section 8147; and 

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1 ‘‘(C) if all liability of the United States Postal 

2 Service to the Employees’ Compensation Fund has 

3 been paid, to the United States Postal Service for 

4 the repayment of any obligation issued under section 

5 2005 of title 39.’’. 

6 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—This Act and the amendments 

8 made by this Act shall take effect on the date of enactment 

9 of this Act. 

10 (b) INTENT OF CONGRESS.—It is the intent of Con11 gress that this Act apply with respect to the allocation 

12 of past, present, and future benefit liabilities between the 

13 United States Postal Service and the Treasury of the 

14 United States. 

Æ 

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