The Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service is an advocacy organization composed of some 30 trade associations and companies united in the interest of preserving a postal system which remains indispensable to American commerce and communications in the 21st Century. Membership spans the range of mailers and their suppliers, which together form a nearly $1 trillion industry supporting 7.5 million jobs.
The Coalition was organized in 2009 when events affecting the financial standing of both the Postal Service and the mailing industry began to occur so rapidly due to the recession and electronic diversion of mail, that it became clear changes would be needed to the law. The Coalition committed to both short- and longer-term strategies to respond. Short term, the Coalition has focused on legislation to address the mandatory pre-funding of USPS’ retiree health benefits program. Longer term, the Coalition has concentrated on infrastructure issues, such as facility closings, personnel costs, service opportunities, as well as on the key issue of overfunding of the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) pension fund.
To meet these challenges, the Coalition has:
• Worked at length with Congress, the Postal Service and the postal unions to pass HR 22 in 2009 to delay the required payment to the retiree medical program from 2009 to 2017;
• Proposed and carried out a series of “Postal 101” staff briefings in conjunction with the House Oversight Committee staff. These four staff briefings were attend by more than 300 House staff. The Coalition “Briefing Book,” essentially a primer on postal basics, was the primary document used by the staff at these briefings;
• Retained Kate Muth to draft the papers for the Briefing Book
• Reacted comprehensively to the Deficit Plan proposed by USPS;
• Conducted, to date, nearly 75 meetings with House and Senate offices on the range of postal issues but focused on the near term concerns of the retirement funds, the CSRS overpayment and our opposition to the exigency rate case;
• Vigorously expressed support for HR 5746 to fix the overpayment through 10 meetings, arranged and conducted on very short notice, with House offices and subcommittee staff;
• Obtained a response from a principal Senate drafter of PAEA disapproving the filing of the exigency case, as well as offering support for recalibrating the overpayment;
• Worked with staff in both Houses to obtain witnesses for Postal 101 and other hearings
The Coalition plans to press ahead comprehensively, but strategically, to obtain both short- and longer-term financial relief from Congress for the Postal Service.
21st Century Coalition Urges Continued Support for HR 5746; Lynch Bill Would Substantially Relieve USPS Financial Crisis