IV
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. RES. 144
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that bonuses for mana-
gerial personnel of the United States Postal Service should not be award-
ed 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 fis-
cal 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 (in-
cluding, in some cases, after retirement);
Whereas managerial personnel of the Postal Service may re-
ceive compensation up to the rate for level I of the Exec-
utive 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 retire-
ment, 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 in-
creased 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 pro-
ductivity;
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 non-
governmental 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
•HRES 144 IH
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 pro-
jecting negative net income: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives 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.
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