TPA Submits Coalition Materials in Response to Postal Reform Legislation

Dear Members and Staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee,

The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) and numerous like-minded policy groups seek to submit a series of materials to the Committee in response to the Postal Reform legislation introduced by Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), and Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.).

The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) and its allies find that this latest attempt at Postal Reform amounts to nothing more than window dressing for reform and is a handout for the United States Postal Service (USPS) at the expense of postal customers and taxpayers. By failing to institute structural reforms, the Committee’s bill unfortunately amends or maintains several problematic features of the Postal Service that will continue its path toward fiscal insolvency and harming postal consumers.

The packet of materials linked here includes the comments and criticisms that were sent to the Committee by TPA, The Postal Reform For Us Coalition, American Consumer Institute (ACI), and Americans for Tax Reform (ATR). Also included are comments submitted by these groups and National Taxpayers Union (NTU) to the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) on its expected recommendations to Congress.

The primary concerns highlighted by our organizations include:

• Letter mail rate hikes – Allowing USPS to raise rates on letter mail through legislation is largely akin to implementing a tax increase on ratepayers, and contradicts rulings by the PRC and the U.S. Court of Appeals.
• New market ventures – Ushering in new areas of service through the ‘Chief Innovation Officer’ and other means amount to nothing more than ill-advised diversions from their core services and also lack justification financially.
• Mail service performance – Failing to address the Postal Service’s inability to meet its performance targets for all first-class and standard letter classes will result in worse service for consumers while also gouging them on price.
• Board of Governors – Neglecting to provide sufficient authority to the agency’s management structures prohibits the Postal Service from making the proper decisions that will allow it reach a path to fiscally sustainability.
• Negotiated Service Agreements – Failing to require transparency by the Postal Service in its dealings with companies threatens further diversions from letter mail and forces to agency to become beholden to its corporate partners.

Overall, this bill regrettably accelerates the Postal Service’s demise in mail delivery and further pins its financial troubles on postal customers and taxpayers. Members and staff of the Committee must rethink this legislation and institute the proper structural reforms that the USPS needs.

Click here to read more online about our primary concerns with the bill.