Biden signs new law to support the Post OfficeDate: 4/18/2022 I’ve written about the problems that are facing the Post Office several times and I was heartened to learn that President Joe Biden approved The Postal Service Reform Law of 2022 on April 6.
Additional good news is this legislation received bipartisan support. The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 79-19 while the House saw a vote of 342-92.
“It is not an exaggeration to say that this bill is one of the most critical pieces of postal legislation in modern history — the struggle to win Postal Reform has been 15 years in the making,” said Legislative and Political Director Judy Beard of the American Postal Workers Union in a press release.
The legislation does several important things. A summary supplied by Congressman Richard Neal’s office noted:
Welcoming all future postal retirees into Medicare, delivering quality health care to our committed public servants while saving the Postal
- Service $22.6 billion over the next decade.
- Repealing a burdensome requirement forcing the Postal Service to prefund retirees’ health care 75 years in advance, saving $27 billion over the next decade.
- Promoting reliable delivery and transparency through a public-facing, online dashboard featuring national and local level service performance data.
- Codifying the Postal Service’s longtime tradition of delivering mail and packages six days per week.
- Allowing the Postal Service to raise additional revenues by offering non-commercial property and services to state, local and tribal governments.
Neal noted, “The Postal Service is essential to the fabric of our communities, providing Western and central Massachusetts families and all Americans with critical services, including the delivery of life-saving prescriptions, Social Security benefits, paychecks, tax returns, and ballots. We are asking more and more of our Postal Service and our postal workers, particularly in this pandemic, and this legislation will make much-needed reforms to better equip them to accomplish their crucial mission. The Postal Service Reform Law of 2022 recognizes the essential service of USPS (United States Postal Service) and its workers and will allow them to continue serving our communities for decades to come.”
The bottom line is we need a strong postal service. While the web and email has changed communications, the Post Office has been a constant in American life since 1775. It is one of the few government agencies that was defined in the Constitution.
The Post Office has historically and literally helped bind this nation together.
Yes, yes FedEx and UPS are fine companies, but frankly, I rely on sending parcels through the Post Office, as do many, many Americans who find a convenience in going to their local Post Office.
I know there are some people who would like to see the Post Office privatized. I know there have been people who have actively worked to cripple the Post Office. And before you start your angry email to me, I know the postal service is not perfect.
What this legislation does is to press the reset button to give the Post Office the ability to improve and compete.
In the midst of ongoing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, a European war and inflation, this story escaped the attention it really deserves. It is heartening, though, that members of Congress from both parties saw the need to make necessary reforms to this vital service.
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