Legislation to End USPS Prefunding Mandate Reintroduced

In 2021, the WEP can result in a monthly benefit that is $498 lower than the amount produced by the regular benefit formula. This causes a disproportionate reduction in benefits for workers with lower monthly benefit amounts

MYTH: A lawmaker’s cosponsorship of a bill is a meaningless action that does nothing to advance the legislation.

REALITY: Cosponsoring legislation is important because current House rules grant a floor vote to a bill when it reaches 290 cosponsors. Cosponsoring is also a strong signal of a bill’s popularity and improves its chances for committee action and passage.

than those with higher benefit amounts.

The Government Pension Offset prevents government retirees who receive an annuity from collecting full Social Security spousal or survivor benefits. Due to the GPO, Social Security survivor benefits are reduced by two-thirds of the federal retiree’s government annuity. Often, this leaves widows and widowers with no survivor benefits at all.

—SETH ICKES, GRASSROOTS ASSISTANT

During nearly a decade and a half of debate in Congress, NARFE has called on postal reform efforts to maintain promises made to postal retirees while allowing the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) flexibility to improve its financial stability.

In February, House Oversight and Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-NY, presented draft postal reform legislation incorporating provisions NARFE has long advocated, including Medicare integration that preserves choice for current postal retirees regarding whether to enroll in Medicare Part B. In advance of a hearing reviewing the legislation and other postal reform solutions, NARFE National President Ken Thomas submitted a statement for the record outlining the organization’s views on postal reform, which can be found on NARFE’s website.

Thomas applauded the draft bill’s Medicare integration provisions, which preserve choice for current postal retirees. Specifically, current retirees age 65 and older would have the option to enroll in Medicare Part B without penalty; retirees ages 55 to 64 would be automatically enrolled at age 65 but would have a three-month window to optout. The integration would save the Postal Service tens of billions of dollars over the next decade.

Beyond Medicare integration, the draft bill would end the requirement that the agency fully prefund the future health insurance benefits of its retirees, a mandate that has cost tens of billions of dollars and is the driving force behind the recent financial losses. It would also maintain USPS service standards by requiring the agency to meet annual performance targets and consult the Postal Regulatory Commission before decreasing mail delivery times.

During the hearing, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy expressed support for the draft bill and noted his 10-year strategic plan would work in tandem with the legislation. In a response to a question from Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-MD, DeJoy indicated that the coming strategic plan would make changes to first-class mail and would cut mail air transport but did not provide further detail.

Republicans on the committee raised concerns with the draft bill, including Ranking Member James Comer, R-KY, who said the bill did not address some “hard decisions” necessary to achieve reform. Rep. Jody Hice, R-GA, ranking member of the Government Operations subcommittee, stated that he supports “basic concepts” in the draft bill, like repeal of the prefunding mandate, but more needs to be done.

As the legislation is introduced and moves through the process, NARFE will continue to provide its members with updates.