USPS Fairness Act

The USPS Fairness Act is a proposed United States law that would repeal the requirement that the United States Postal Service prepay future retirement benefits. The bill would specifically undo the requirement that retirees' health benefits be pre-funded, decades in advance, put in place by the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, which had placed a significant financial burden on the postal service.

USPS Fairness Act
Long titleTo amend title 5, United States Code, to repeal the requirement that the United States Postal Service prepay future retirement benefits, and for other purposes.
Announced inthe 117th United States Congress
Number of co-sponsors275
Legislative history

Background

Similar bills to the USPS Fairness Act have been proposed in recent years, but none passed.[1] The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act requires the USPS to pre-fund benefits for future retirees, and this costs the agency about $5.5 billion annually.[2] The so-called PAEA requires the USPS to pre-fund these pensions more than fifty years in advance. This requirement has caused the USPS to accumulate billions in debt annually in recent years.[3] If the USPS Fairness Act were passed, the USPS could still continue to pay benefits from the accumulated funding (about $56.8 billion in 2020) until depleted, but the intended purpose of the Act is to remove the pre-funding requirements placed on the agency by the PAEA.[1][3]

Provisions

Prepay of Retirement Benefits

This bill repeals the requirement in the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006, therefore lessening the financial burden on the USPS.[4]

Legislative history

As of May 19, 2021:

Congress Short title Bill number(s) Date introduced Sponsor(s) # of cosponsors Latest status
116th Congress USPS Fairness Act of 2019 H.R. 2382 April 29, 2019 Peter DeFazio

(D-OR)

 301 Passed in the House (309 - 106)[5]
S. 2965 December 3, 2019 Steve Daines

(R-MT)

 7 Died in committee
117th Congress USPS Fairness Act of 2021 H.R. 695 February 2, 2021 Peter DeFazio

(D-OR)

 275 Referred to Committees of Jurisdiction
S. 145 February 1, 2021 Steve Daines

(R-MT)

 10 Referred to Committees of Jurisdiction

See also

References
  1. "Congress reintroduces USPS reform bill to eliminate pre-funding mandate". Federal News Network. 2021-02-04. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
  2. Sanburn, Josh (2013-02-07). "How Healthcare Expenses Cost Us Saturday Postal Delivery". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2021-03-06.
  3. "Lawmakers aim to dissolve 'draconian' law that placed heavy financial burden on Postal Service". NBC News. Retrieved 2021-02-27.
  4. "USPS Fairness Act Reintroduced in the House and Senate". American Postal Workers Union. 2021-02-03. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  5. "USPS Fairness Act passes House". National Association of Letter Carriers AFL-CIO. Retrieved 2021-03-06.

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