I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 707 

To provide monthly vouchers to members of the Armed Forces serving in 

overseas operations, or hospitalized due to a disease or injury incurred 

as a result of service in such operations, that a member may transfer 

to another person to permit the person to mail, without charge, correspondence and small parcels to members of the Armed Forces. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 27, 2009 

Ms. CASTOR of Florida (for herself, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. BARROW, Mr. 

BILIRAKIS, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mrs. BONO MACK, Mr. BOOZMAN, 

Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. BOSWELL, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, Ms. 

GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida, Mr. BUCHANAN, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. CARTER, Mr. CHANDLER, Mr. CHILDERS, 

Ms. CLARKE, Mr. CLAY, Mr. COHEN, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. 

CROWLEY, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. EDWARDS of Texas, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. FARR, Mr. FILNER, Mr. FOSTER, 

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. GONZALEZ, 

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee, Mr. GRAYSON, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. 

HINCHEY, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. HOLT, Mr. HONDA, Mr. ISRAEL, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. KAGEN, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. KIND, Ms. KIRKPATRICK of Arizona, Mr. 

KISSELL, Mr. KLEIN of Florida, Ms. KOSMAS, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. 

LATOURETTE, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. LUJAN, Mr. MASSA, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. MCMAHON, Mr. MEEK of Florida, Ms. 

MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, 

Mr. PATRICK J. MURPHY of Pennsylvania, Mr. PETRI, Mr. PIERLUISI, 

Mr. PUTNAM, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, Mr. ROSS, Mr. 

ROTHMAN of New Jersey, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mr. 

SABLAN, Mr. SCHIFF, Mrs. SCHMIDT, Mr. SESTAK, Mr. SHUSTER, Mr. 

TANNER, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mr. TERRY, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, 

Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. TONKO, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. SCHRADER, Mr. DOYLE, 

Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. SCHWARTZ, Ms. SUTTON, Mr. PLATTS, Mr. MINNICK, 

Mr. TAYLOR, Mr. BOCCIERI, Ms. PINGREE of Maine, Mr. SCHAUER, Mr. 

HALL of New York, Mr. BERRY, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. 

HINOJOSA, Mr. BISHOP of New York, Mr. CARNAHAN, and Mr. ARCURI) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Armed Services 


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•HR 707 IH

A BILL 

To provide monthly vouchers to members of the Armed 

Forces serving in overseas operations, or hospitalized 

due to a disease or injury incurred as a result of service 

in such operations, that a member may transfer to another person to permit the person to mail, without 

charge, correspondence and small parcels to members 

of the Armed Forces. 

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 ‘‘Home Front to Heroes 

5 Postal Benefits Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. POSTAL BENEFITS PROGRAM FOR SENDING FREE 

7 MAIL TO MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES 

8 SERVING IN CERTAIN OVERSEAS OPER9 ATIONS AND HOSPITALIZED MEMBERS. 

10 (a) AVAILABILITY OF POSTAL BENEFITS.—The Sec11 retary of Defense, in consultation with the United States 

12 Postal Service, shall provide for a program under which 

13 postal benefits are provided during fiscal year 2010 to 

14 qualified individuals in accordance with this section. 

15 (b) QUALIFIED INDIVIDUAL.—In this section, the 

16 term ‘‘qualified individual’’ means a member of the Armed 

17 Forces described in subsection (a)(1) of section 3401 of 


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1 title 39, United States Code, who is entitled to free mail2 ing privileges under such section. 

3 (c) POSTAL BENEFITS DESCRIBED.— 

4 (1) VOUCHERS.—The postal benefits provided 

5 under the program shall consist of such coupons or 

6 other similar evidence of credit (in this section re7 ferred to as a ‘‘voucher’’) to permit a person pos8 sessing the voucher to make a qualified mailing to 

9 any qualified individual without charge using the 

10 Postal Service. The vouchers may be in printed, elec11 tronic, or such other format as the Secretary of De12 fense, in consultation with the Postal Service, shall 

13 determine to be appropriate. 

14 (2) QUALIFIED MAILING.—In this section, the 

15 term ‘‘qualified mailing’’ means the mailing of a sin16 gle mail piece which— 

17 (A) is first-class mail (including any 

18 sound- or video-recorded communication) not 

19 exceeding 13 ounces in weight and having the 

20 character of personal correspondence or parcel 

21 post not exceeding 15 pounds in weight; 

22 (B) is sent from within an area served by 

23 a United States post office; and 

24 (C) is addressed to any qualified indi25 vidual. 


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1 (3) COORDINATION RULE.—Postal benefits 

2 under the program are in addition to, and not in lieu 

3 of, any reduced rates of postage or other similar 

4 benefits which might otherwise be available by or 

5 under law, including any rates of postage resulting 

6 from the application of section 3401(b) of title 39, 

7 United States Code. 

8 (d) NUMBER OF VOUCHERS.—A member of the 

9 Armed Forces shall be eligible for one voucher for every 

10 month (or part of a month) during fiscal year 2010 in 

11 which the member is a qualified individual. Subject to sub12 section (f)(2), a voucher earned during fiscal year 2010 

13 may be used after the end of such fiscal year. 

14 (e) TRANSFER OF VOUCHERS.—A qualified indi15 vidual may transfer a voucher to a member of the family 

16 of the qualified individual, a nonprofit organization, or any 

17 other person selected by the qualified individual for use 

18 to send qualified mailings to the qualified individual or 

19 other qualified individuals. 

20 (f) LIMITATIONS ON USE; DURATION.—A voucher 

21 may not be used— 

22 (1) for more than one qualified mailing, wheth23 er that mailing is a first-class letter or a parcel; or 

24 (2) after the expiration date of the voucher, as 

25 designated by the Secretary of Defense. 


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1 (g) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 30 days after the 

2 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense 

3 (in consultation with the Postal Service) shall prescribe 

4 such regulations as may be necessary to carry out the pro5 gram, including— 

6 (1) procedures by which vouchers will be pro7 vided or made available in timely manner to quali8 fied individuals; and 

9 (2) procedures to ensure that the number of 

10 vouchers provided or made available with respect to 

11 any qualified individual complies with subsection (d). 

12 (h) TRANSFERS OF FUNDS TO POSTAL SERVICE.— 

13 (1) BASED ON ESTIMATES.—The Secretary of 

14 Defense shall transfer to the Postal Service, out of 

15 amounts available to carry out the program and in 

16 advance of each calendar quarter during which post17 al benefits may be used under the program, an 

18 amount equal to the amount of postal benefits that 

19 the Secretary estimates will be used during such 

20 quarter, reduced or increased (as the case may be) 

21 by any amounts by which the Secretary finds that 

22 a determination under this subsection for a prior 

23 quarter was greater than or less than the amount fi24 nally determined for such quarter. 


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1 (2) BASED ON FINAL DETERMINATION.—A 

2 final determination of the amount necessary to cor3 rect any previous determination under this section, 

4 and any transfer of amounts between the Postal 

5 Service and the Department of Defense based on 

6 that final determination, shall be made not later 

7 than six months after the expiration date of the final 

8 vouchers issued under the program. 

9 (3) CONSULTATION REQUIRED.—All estimates 

10 and determinations under this subsection of the 

11 amount of postal benefits under the program used in 

12 any period shall be made by the Secretary of De13 fense in consultation with the Postal Service. 

Æ 


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