The Unites States Postal Services financial reform bill was signed by President Joe Biden, on Wednesday, making it law. The much needed overhauling of the UPSC came with bipartisan support as the bill received a majority of the votes by both the House and the Senate. This is a big step forward though some congresspersons believe that many more reforms are required, at the earliest. The Postal Services Reform Act of 2022 addresses some of the major changes that are necessary to stop the service from falling into bankruptcy.
At a White House ceremony, President Joe Biden said that the Postal Service was “central to our economy and central to rural America.” He also said that it delivered “democracy.”
The legislation will give the USPS approximately $50 billion in financial relief for at least the next ten years and will continue to add future reforms and bring the service out of its crippling debt due to earlier policies as it has reported over $900 billion in losses in the past 15 years.
Post Master General Louis DeJoy had proposed a reform plan to take away a potential $160 billion loss over the next few years. Only some of these reforms have become a part of the new bill. The condition that the USPS had to allocate health funds for 75 years; for both current and retired employees is no longer required. No other federal entity or business offers or offered such benefits.
Scrapping this impractical pre-fund will save the essential service about $27 billion in the next ten years. The bill also says that future postal retirees have to enroll in government health insurance such as Medicaid. This new move will also save about $22.6 billion in the next decade.
At the same event, DeJoy defended a notice filed by the USPS with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) to raise the rate of first class mail stamps by 2 cents from 58 cents to 60 cents as he said that they “need money.” He also said that they had to “improve their service,” reduce wasteful expenditures and invest in “facilities” “employees” and business growth.
