The Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 is a

federal statute In the law of the United States, the Code of Laws of the United States of America (variously abbreviated to Code of Laws of the United States, United States Code, U.S. Code, U.S.C., or USC) is the official compilation and codification of the ...

intended to address "the finances and operations of the

U.S. Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U. ...

(USPS)", specifically to lift budget requirements imposed on the Service by the

Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) is a United States federal statute enacted by the 109th United States Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush on December 20, 2006. The bill was introduced in the United Stat ...

and require it to continue six day a week delivery of mail. P20220406CS-0653 (52068485076)

The act was first introduced on May 11, 2021, by

Representative Representative may refer to: Politics * Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people * House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities * Legislator, som ...

Carolyn Maloney Carolyn Jane Maloney (née Bosher, February 19, 1946) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2013, and for from 1993 to 2013. The district includes most of Manhattan's East Side, Astoria and Long Island City ...

( D- NY). The House of Representatives then passed the bill by 342–92 on February 8, 2022. On March 8, 2022, the Senate voted 79–19 to pass the bill. President Biden signed the bill into law on April 6, 2022.

Background

Similar bills to the Postal Service Reform Act have been proposed in recent years, but none passed. The

(PAEA), passed in 2006, required the USPS to pre-fund benefits for future retirees, and this cost the agency about $5.5 billion annually. The PAEA required the USPS to pre-fund these pensions more than fifty years in advance. This requirement caused the USPS to accumulate billions in debt annually in recent years. The USPS Fairness Act would have allowed the USPS to still continue to pay benefits from the accumulated funding (about $56.8 billion in 2020) until depleted, but the intended purpose of the USPS Fairness Act was to remove the pre-funding requirements placed on the agency by the PAEA. That bill passed in the House (309—106) in 2019 but died in the Senate. The Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 eliminated the requirement to pre-fund retiree benefits. Retiring postal employees will now be required to enroll in Medicare.

Criticism

Paul Steidler of the

Lexington Institute The Lexington Institute is a center-right think tank headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, United States. It focuses mainly on defense and security policy. History, staff, and positions The Lexington Institute was founded in 1998 by former U.S. ...

criticized the law for failing to: * Reverse the slowdown of mail delivery times * Allow the pre-paid pension and medical benefit funds to be partially invested in higher-return stocks rather than the current mandate of 100% U.S. treasury bonds * Require the USPS to allocate resources more efficiently by adopting the "greenfield modern bottom-up costing and revenue measurement system" recommended by the

USPS Inspector General The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...

in 2014.

References

United States Postal Service Acts of the 117th United States Congress United States federal postal legislation {{postal-stub