DeFazio-Authored Bill Passes Senate as Part of Bipartisan Postal Service Reform Act

Congressman Peter DeFazio (OR-04) today applauded the Senate for passing the Postal Service Reform Act, legislation that aims to overhaul the United States Postal Service (USPS) and includes Rep. DeFazio’s USPS Fairness Act, which will eliminate the USPS’s prefunding mandate and save the agency at least $5 billion annually. The bill now heads to President Biden’s desk to be signed into law.

“Congress has finally passed legislation to bring the Postal Service into the 21st century,” said Rep. DeFazio. “The agency has been burdened with the idiotic prefunding mandate for far too long. I am pleased the legislation passed today includes my bill to repeal this ridiculous mandate and finally bring financial stability to USPS. USPS connects our communities, bolsters small businesses, delivers ballots and checks, and ensures that rural Americans, seniors, veterans, and more receive vital services they need. With passage of the Postal Service Reform Act, we’re finally driving USPS in the right direction.”

The Postal Service Reform Act includes Rep. DeFazio’s bill, H.R. 695, the USPS Fairness Act. This legislation would repeal a congressional mandate requiring USPS to pre-fund decades worth of health benefits for its future retirees. No other government agency or private enterprise is required to prefund retiree health benefits on such an aggressive timeline. The prefunding mandate accounted for 100 percent of the agency’s losses from 2013 to 2018.

The Postal Service Reform Act would also:

• Reform the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program so that postal employees and retirees enroll directly in Medicare
• Strengthen six-day delivery requirements, which have been weakened under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy
• Require semi-annual reports to Congress on the implementation of the U.S. 10-year reform plan
• Provide a special postage discount for rural newspapers to support rural journalism
• Allow the Postal Service to raise additional revenues by offering non-commercial property and services to state, local, and tribal governments