Date: 2003-04-08
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. S. 380. the Postal Civil Service Retirement System Funding Reform Act of 2003. is a bipartisan bill in the Senate. Its House counterpart is sponsored by the gentleman from New York . the gentleman from California . the gentleman from Illinois . myself and others. It reforms the way the Postal Service funds its obligations to the Civil Service Retirement System. It prevents the Postal Service from overfunding its obligations to CSRS and postpones a rate increase for the American people and postal ratepayers. Last year the Office of Personnel Management. at the request of GAO. reviewed the status of the Postal Services funding of its CSRS benefits. OPM found that based on payments currently required by law. the Postal Service would overfund its CSRS benefits by more than $70 billion. OPM proposed a legislative solution modeling the Postal Services payments to CSRS after its payments to the current Federal Employee Retirement System. This would result in a reduction in the Postal Services annual obligation to CSRS. allowing the Postal Service to delay its next rate increase beyond 2004 to at least fiscal year 2006. The bill we are considering today. S. 380. differs from OPMs proposal in that it places tight restrictions on how the Postal Service uses the savings. The bill requiresthe Postal Service to work with the Department of the Treasury to apply the funds saved to pay down its debt to Treasury in fiscal years 2003 and 2004 and directs the Postal Service to use the savings in 2005 to delay an anticipated rate increase. Subsequently. the Postal Service and OPM are to calculate the difference between the cost to fund CSRS under the bill and under the current law. The Postal Service will develop a proposal for the use of the funds. Without congressional action on the Postal Service proposal. the funds would be placed in escrow. This legislation will also require the Postal Service to fund the portion of retirement benefits attributable to the prior military service of postal employees which. again. models the Postal Services payments to CSRS after the current Federal Employee Retirement System. or FERS. I think this is an issue that demands further study because no other agency in the Federal Government that I am aware of funds its CSRS military obligations within the department. It may ultimately be unfair to make postal customers and ratepayers fund military retirement benefits. Working with the gentleman from California . my ranking member. I prepared an amendment to the House version of the bill. H.R. 735. requiring the Department of the Treasury. the Office of Personnel Management. and the Postal Service to develop proposals on this issue. So this is an issue that will be revisited. The Committee on Government Reform and the Senate Committee on Government Affairs will look at those proposals and revisit the issue. This amendment was incorporated in S. 380. so we do not need to offer it today. I also understand the gentleman from California will be offering and withdrawing an amendment on this subject in a few moments in order to further highlight its importance. and I thank and congratulate him for his leadership in highlighting this issue and pledge to him that we will continue to work on this. and this is. in my judgment. not the end of the mattel. Many people do not know this. but the Postal industry. including ancillary businesses. represents approximately 9 percent of the gross domestic product. the GDP. The industry has been hit hard in the last several years. first by the economic slowdown and then by events of September 11. 2001 and subsequent anthrax attacks. During this same period. postal rates increased three times within 18 months. The Postal industry needs relief. The Postal Service will be able to hold off on a rate increase if this legislation passes. This gives money back to the Postal customer and allows us all to hold on to our 37cent stamps for 2 more years. It also stabilizes the Postal Service financially. securing the jobs of nearly 9 million people in the postal Industry. Postal consumers have implored us to address this problem before it is too late. The United States Postal Service. all four postal unions. the postal management associations. and a very broad coalition of postal customers support this bill. I hope that we can pass it expeditiously and put off the next rate increase until at least 2006. Mr. Speaker I urge adoption of S. 380. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.