WASHINGTON, Oct. 14 — The office of Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, issued the following news release:

Today U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), joined by Republican Representatives Mike Turner (OH-3) and Jean Schmidt (OH-2), sent a letter to the Postmaster General encouraging the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to consider utilizing Wilmington Air Park in its effort to find savings and increase efficiency.

"We encourage the USPS to consider the Wilmington Air Park as it determines the best course of action in returning the USPS to profitability," they wrote. "According to one estimate, utilizing this facility could save the USPS up to an additional one billion dollars annually. We invite you to tour this facility to see first-hand what a valuable asset the Wilmington Air Park could be for the USPS."

The USPS is conducting a review of its mail processing system to determine how to consolidate and streamline it. The publicly-owned Wilmington Air Park has a fully automated sort facility with 1.1 million square feet and the capacity to process 240,000 pieces of mail per hour. The site is also located within a one day drive of 60 percent of the U.S. population.

Full text of the letter appears below.

October 13, 2011

The Honorable Patrick R. Donahoe

Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer

United States Postal Service

475 L’Enfant Plaza, SW

Washington, D.C. 20260-2202

Dear Postmaster Donahoe,

In light of the recent announcement that the United States Postal Service (USPS) will conduct a comprehensive review of its mail processing network in an effort to consolidate and streamline postal infrastructure, we wanted to bring to your attention an important asset in Ohio that could help the USPS find savings and boost efficiency.

The Wilmington Air Park, owned by the Clinton County Port Authority, offers a unique opportunity for the USPS. The publicly-owned 2,200 acre facility was formerly home to the domestic hub for cargo carrier DHL, and the area offers impressive facilities and a dedicated workforce. The facility has state-of-the-art sorting infrastructure left behind when DHL ceased domestic operations, including "Building F," a fully automated sort facility with 1.1 million square feet and the capacity to process 240,000 pieces of mail per hour. The site is also located within a one day drive of 60 percent of the U.S. population.

We encourage the USPS to consider the Wilmington Air Park as it determines the best course of action in returning the USPS to profitability. According to one estimate, utilizing this facility could save the USPS up to an additional one billion dollars annually.

We realize that there are many difficult choices ahead regarding any changes to the current USPS system, but we ask that during the 90 day review process, which is now underway, you consider the Wilmington Air Park as a piece of your cost-savings efforts. We also invite you to tour this facility to see first-hand what a valuable asset the Wilmington Air Park could be for the USPS.

Please find enclosed additional information about the facility. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us directly.

Oct. 15, 2011 — NALC President Fredric V. Rolando has written a letter to the members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, better known as the “super committee.” He outlines seven proposals the NALC would like the committee to consider.

October 11, 2011

Dear Member:

As a member of the Special Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction, you are charged with fairly reducing the deficit over the long run while doing all you can to attack the American jobs crisis in the short run. I write on behalf of the 280,000 members of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), which represents active and retired employees of the U.S. Postal Service, a crucial infrastructure service of the U.S. economy and the hub of a $1.3 trillion industry that employs 7.5 million private-sector employees across America. Read the rest of this entry »

Millionaire Darrell Issa, who is eligible for a lucrative federal pension when he leaves office, told the Deficit Super Committee yesterday that it should completely eliminate federal pensions for new hires, while drastically increasing the employee contributions for existing FERS and CSRS employees. Issa would base pensions for retiring CSRS and FERS employees on the high five years earnings rather than the current three, and eliminate the social security supplement for most FERS retirees.

Darrell also told the committee that it should not involve itself in postal reform, claiming that he was trying to build a “consensus” reform measure. (The claim is somewhat ironic, given that a majority in the House seemed to have arrived at just such a consensus in the Lynch bill that Darrell refuses to allow a vote on.)

Darrell’s letter claims that the suggestion by Oversight Democrats that the USPS be placed “on budget” “makes it possible to falsely claim that postal reform proposals saves [sic] taxpayers billions of dollars by counting reductions in postal service expenses… as savings to the taxpayer.”

Darrell neglects to mention that having the USPS off budget while its pension funds are on budget allows him to falsely claim that giving the USPS access to the over $50 billion in postal profits now sitting in the Treasury is a “taxpayer bailout”.

Interestingly, while Darrell claims to be building a consensus, none of the other members of the committee, Republican or Democrat, signed his letter.

2011-10-14 DEI to Hensarling – Super Committee

(Perhaps one of the constitutional scholars in the Tea Party can tell us which article provides that a bill supported by a bipartisan majority of the House of Representatives can be defeated “because Darrell says so”?)

From the American Postal Workers Union:

House Panel Approves Postal ‘Destruction’ Bill

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform approved an amended version of the Issa-Ross postal bill on Oct. 13 by a vote of 22-18. All but one Republican (Rep. Todd Platts of Pennsylvania) voted in favor of the bill; Democrats voted against it.

The APWU has denounced the bill, H.R. 2309, as a “reckless assault on postal services and postal employees.” The bill demands that the USPS implement $3 billion worth of cuts in post offices and mail processing facilities in a two-year period. It also would reduce “door delivery” by 75 percent.

In addition, the legislation would gut collective bargaining: The amended bill prohibits postal unions and the USPS from negotiating protection against layoffs.

Bill Guarantess Layoffs

The Postal Service announced in August that it wants to reduce the workforce by 220,000, and is seeking authority to lay off as many as 120,000, including tens of thousands of military veterans. H.R. 2309 would authorize layoffs; the wholesale elimination of post offices and mail processing facilities demanded by the legislation virtually guarantees that massive layoffs would take place.

The bill also would empower a new “solvency authority” to unilaterally cut wages and abolish benefits.

“This legislation would destroy the Postal Service as we know it,” President Cliff Guffey said. “It would lead to drastic cuts in service to the American people, and it would pave the way for privatization of this crucial public service.

“The bill violates fundamental principles of our nation: fairness, the right of workers to engage in free collective bargaining, and respect for seniority,” he said.

“The APWU will continue the fight to save America’s Postal Service,” Guffey said. “We will be joined by our brothers and sisters in the other postal unions, veterans, senior citizens, and communities that rely on a robust Postal Service.”

Other Amendments

In addition to the amendment that would prevent bargaining over layoffs, several other amendments were adopted: An amendment offered by Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL) would remove postal employees from the federal injury compensation program and would require the USPS to develop a separate program for workers who are hurt on the job. It also would force disabled employees to retire as soon as they are eligible.

An amendment offered by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) would permit the Postal Service to eliminate up to 12 delivery days per year rather than requiring an immediate abandonment of Saturday delivery. An amendment offered by Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY) would limit to 10 percent the number of rural post office closures.

An amendment offered by Rep. Bruce Braley (D-IA) to evaluate the impact of layoffs on veterans was adopted. The amendment was introduced in response to an ad sponsored by postal union and VoteVets, a prominent veterans’ organization, decrying the layoffs of tens of thousands of veterans that H.R. 2309 would cause. The ad appeared in Washington publications that are widely read by lawmakers on Oct. 12 and 13.

“Two of the adopted amendments were clearly regressive,” said APWU Legislative and Political Director Myke Reid, referring to the prohibition on negotiating limits on layoffs and removing postal employees from the federal injury compensation program. “Some of the others may appear to improve the bill,” but they just “nibble around the edges” without changing its basic character, he said.

“If passed, H.R. 2309 would be a disaster for the USPS and for postal employees.” The bill must be passed by the full House and Senate and signed by President Obama before it can become law, he pointed out.

“H.R. 2309 fails to address the fundamental cause of the Postal Service’s financial difficulties,” Reid added. The bill does nothing to correct the requirement to pre-fund the healthcare benefits of future retirees, which forces the USPS to fund a 75-year liability in just 10 years, he said. No other government agency or private business is required to make these payments, which cost the Postal Service approximately $5.5 billion annually. The bill also fails to address billions of dollars in USPS overpayments to federal pension accounts, Reid noted.

GAO Report as a Backdrop

An Oct. 13 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that rejected the findings of the USPS Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) regarding USPS overpayments to the Civil Service Retirement System served as a backdrop to the deliberations. Two independent actuarial studies performed at the request of the OIG and PRC concluded that the USPS has overpaid $50 billion to $75 billion into the account, due to a faulty funding formula.

The OIG and PRC provided a vigorous rebuttal to the GAO report, and Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) called it “terribly flawed.” Nonetheless, at the hearing, Rep. Buerkle and Rep. Pat Meehan (R-PA) cited the GAO findings and voiced reservations about their previous support for H.R. 1351, the bill postal unions are supporting.

The APWU issued a statement denouncing the GAO report, calling it “seriously flawed.”

“Fortunately, there are many in Congress who reject this discredited report and will continue to tell the truth about the need for reform and fairness on this issue,” the union said.

“The report was clearly designed to undermine support for H.R. 1351,” Reid said, “so APWU members will have to make sure members of Congress remain steadfast in their support for this important legislation.”

H.R. 1351 would help provide the Postal Service financial stability by allowing the Postal Service to apply the pension overpayments to the pre-funding obligation. It would provide the USPS with financial stability it needs to modernize and adapt to changes in communication.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA), has 226 co-sponsors – including 29 Republicans. The number of co-sponsors is significant because it represents a majority of the members of the House of Representatives; nonetheless, Rep. Issa has refused to allow it to come up for a vote.

“I am deeply disappointed that Rep. Issa would thwart the will of the majority and prevent Congress from debating a bill that has wide bipartisan support,” Guffey said. “But he will not be able to stop the American people for long!”

House Panel Approves Postal ‘Destruction’ Bill.

The Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum today launched a new augmented-reality experience that brings to life “Owney the Dog,” mascot of the Railway Mail Service. The experience, offered via iPhone and Web applications, is the first multidimensional, augmented-reality experience triggered by a U.S. postage stamp.

Owney was a scruffy mutt who became a regular fixture at the Albany, N.Y., post office in 1888. He loved the mail and began to ride with the mailbags on Railway Post Office train cars across the state and then the country. In 1895, Owney even made an around-the-world trip, traveling with mailbags on trains and steamships to Asia and across Europe. The RPO clerks adopted Owney as their unofficial mascot, marking his travels by placing medals and tags from his stops on his collar. He has been preserved and is on display at the National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C., and is the subject of a recently released official commemorative stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service.

The Owney augmented-reality experience comes “to life” when the Owney the Dog postage stamp is viewed via a free iPhone app available from the Apple iTunes Store or the museum’s special webcam page (www.postalmuseum.si.edu/owneyapp). A multidimensional virtual Owney appears above the stamp. Owney barks, trots, sits and listens to postal train whistles in full 3-D. When the stamp is moved closer to the camera, details of Owney’s collar and some of the tags he received from his many travels can be seen. When viewed from a slight distance, the stamp can be moved around to see Owney from any side or angle.

“It is a fun way to experience Owney the Postal Dog, a crowd favorite at the National Postal Museum,” said Allen Kane, director of the museum. “We are thrilled to bring him ‘to life’ in conjunction with the release of his commemorative postage stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service.”

“As the Smithsonian’s first augmented reality application, Owney the Dog was a fun way for us to learn about this new technology in partnership with the Postal Service and its launch of the Owney stamp while extending the Owney experience to broader audiences, including those who may not be able to see Owney in person at the postal museum,” said Nancy Proctor, head of new media initiatives at the Smithsonian Institution. “The app also offers fascinating glimpses of how digital technologies might change our experiences of analog stamps in the future and even the concept of stamp collecting!”

At long last, someone has suggested doing away with the accounting gimmick that helped get the US Postal Service into its current so-called “financial crisis”. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have submitted their recommendations to the deficit reduction “super-committee”, and one of them calls for the Postal Service to be “on budget” i.e., to include its all of its financial operations in the Federal Budget.

The suggestion would fix the current situation that places the USPS’s operating budget “off budget”, while its pension and retiree health funds are “on budget”. This budget gimmick was the driving force behind the creation of the annual $5.5 billion “trust fund” requirement that was slapped on the USPS by the Congress and the Bush Administration in 2006.

A little historical background: in 2002 the Office of Personnel Management discovered that the USPS was paying too much into its Civil Service Retirement fund. (Note that this overpayment has nothing to do with yesterday’s GAO report, which dealt with the treatment of pre-1971 Post Office Department employees. The 2002 overpayment problem was discovered by OPM, and verified by the Office of Management and Budget in the Bush White House- no one disputes that it was real.) The amount the USPS was overpaying on an annual basis was about $5 billion a year. Newspaper headlines at the time suggested that the discovery would solve the financial problems of the USPS for years to come.

But the Bush Administration thought differently- in 2002 the US was already involved in a war in Afghanistan, and had also seen the first of the Bush tax cuts. The budget was starting to run a deficit, and returning the undisputed overcharges to the USPS would, according to Congressional accounting rules, increase that deficit. In 2003 Bush started another war, and Congress enacted still more tax cuts.

The end result was that it took until 2006 for a law to be passed finally resolving the continuing overpayments. Unfortunately for the USPS, the resolution didn’t refund the overpayments- instead, the PAEA law forced the USPS to continue them- but now they would go into a special on budget “trust fund”. Safely stashed in the “trust fund”, the money, now amounting to $42.5 billion, artificially lowers the federal debt, and allows opponents of the USPS to scream “BAILOUT” whenever anyone suggests that the money be returned, or simply has the temerity to ask how a company with over $50 billion in the bank (the “trust fund” plus the $6.9B FERS overpayment) could possibly be “insolvent”.

And that is why the Democrats’ reasonable suggestion stands no chance of being approved.

But here it is, for the record:

As part of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989, the majority of the Postal Service’s finances, which are held in the Postal Service Fund, were placed in an “off-budget” status. The rationale for this provision was that since the Postal Service’s funds were derived primarily from rate payers rather than taxpayers, the Postal Service’s operations and finances should not affect national budget considerations. On the other hand, several Postal Service accounts and funds continue to remain “on-budget,” including the Postal Service’s share of the Civil Service Disability and Retirement Fund and the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund.

This budget accounting mechanism created problems for the Postal Service after Congress enacted the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, which requires on-budget legislative changes that impact federal spending to be offset by decreases in other on-budget accounts or programs.61 Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act rules do not permit off-budget changes to balance out on-budget changes.

In 2009, the Postal Service Inspector General issued a report highlighting the complications caused by this anomalous budget treatment. The report stated that, “despite its off-budget status … the Postal Service is still caught up in budget scoring decisions that erode its finances and obstruct its legislative program in Congress.” One example of these complications is the budget treatment of an estimated $6.9 billion surplus the Postal Service has accumulated in its Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) obligations. Although there is agreement between the Postal Service and Office of Personnel Management (OPM) that the surplus funds should be returned to the Postal Service to improve its financial outlook, the transfer of funds from an on-budget account to an off-budget account would be viewed as increasing the federal deficit under the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act.

House Budget Committee Chairman Ryan expressed support for using a unified budget approach when he spoke about a provision in the Continuing Resolution (CR) for Fiscal Year 2012 to delay the Postal Service’s $5.5 billion retiree health benefits pre-payment. He stated:

The House Budget Committee scored this anomaly on a unified basis, so that both the on budget and off-budget effects were counted together. As a result, the 2011 cost and the 2012 savings offset each other and produce a score of zero in the CR (P.L. 111-68). This decision has precedent. A similar provision was included in the FY 2010 short-term CR where the House scored that provision on a unified basis pursuant to section 426(b) of the 2010 budget resolution.

Given the bipartisan support for this proposal, the Joint Select Committee should amend the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, as recommended by the Office of Management and Budget in its submission to the Joint Select Committee.

In order to improve the short-term solvency of the Postal Service, the Joint Select Committee also should adopt the Administration’s proposal to restructure the Postal Service’s Retiree Health Benefits prepayment schedule and refund the Postal Service’s accumulated Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) surplus of approximately $6.9 billion. Replacing the current Retiree Health Benefits prepayment schedule with a more realistic longer-term prepayment schedule will significantly enhance the Postal Service’s current liquidity and enable the Postal Service to right-size its workforce.

Oversight Democrats Release Recommendations to the Super Committee

From the Ed Show on MSNBC last night:

The following information was released by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island:

A United States Postal Service employee was charged Thursday in U.S. District Court in Providence, R.I., with allegedly stealing cash from greeting cards sent through the mail as they were being processed at the United States Postal Service’s Processing and Distribution Center in Providence.

Robert J. Hart, Jr., 49, of Cranston, R.I., charged with theft of mail by an employee of the United States Postal Service, was released on $10,000 unsecured bond after an initial appearance before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Lincoln D. Almond.

The arrest of Hart was announced by U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha and Jane Hughes, Special Agent in Charge of the northeast area United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General (USPS OIG).

According to an Affidavit in support of a criminal complaint and arrest warrant, it is alleged that on September 26, 2011, an investigator from the USPS OIG recovered 106 pieces of rifled mail that had been processed at the Providence Processing and Distribution Center on September 24 and 25, 2011. All of the rifled mail was first class greeting cards mailed from outside of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The mail had allegedly been slit open cleanly along the top seam and cash allegedly removed from cards which had the hinge of the greeting card face down. Cash was not removed from some of the opened cards which had the hinge facing up.

The Affidavit alleges that on October 11, 2011, agents from the USPS OIG recovered 97 rifled first class greeting cards processed between October 1 and October 10, 2011. None of the recovered mail which had the hinge facing down contained cash.

According to the court document, on October 12, 2011, USPS OIG agents placed two pieces of mail which contained greeting cards with marked $20 bills in processing trays to be handled by Hart and conducted surveillance of Hart’s actions. Hart’s actions allegedly included the removal of a cutting instrument from his pocket as he processed the mail. The greeting cards placed by agents for processing by Hart were allegedly slit open and the marked $20 bills allegedly removed. Hart was confronted by the agents and the marked $20 bills were allegedly located in Hart’s pocket.

A Criminal Complaint is merely an allegation and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

If convicted of theft of mail by an employee of the United States Postal Service, Hart faces up to 5 years in federal prison; 3 years supervised release; and a $250,000 fine.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Rogers.

APWU President Cliff Guffey will appear — once again — on The Ed Show on MSNBC tonight, Oct. 13, at 10 p.m. EDT. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is considering the Issa-Ross postal bill today, and is expected to approve the legislation, which the union president has called “a reckless assault on postal service and postal employees.”

Guffey will discuss the ongoing campaign to save America’s Postal Service. The APWU is vigorously opposing the Issa-Ross bill (H.R. 2309), and is organizing support for H.R. 1351, which would provide the USPS with much-needed financial stability without any burden on taxpayers. The bill, which was introduced by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA), has 226 co-sponsors, including 29 Republicans.

Schultz gave an enthusiastic defense of a public Postal Service on his Oct. 12 program.

via Guffey to Appear on ‘The Ed Show’.

The USPS Inspector General has responded to today’s GAO report denying that the USPS has overpaid its share of Civil Service pensions- some excerpts:

We disagree with the major conclusions of the report. Your review focuses on the 1974 law (P.L. 93-349), which is not in dispute. All parties agree that the 1974 law made the Postal Sen/ice responsible for funding the additional CSRS liabilities resulting from pay increases after 1971.

The issue in question surrounds the CSRS Funding Reform Act of 2003 (PL. 108-18) as it pertains to the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) share of CSRS liability. Your report fails to recognize how the 2003 law changed the 1974 law. We do not understand your assertion that the “consequence of the 2003 Act was to leave the 1974 allocation unchanged, notwithstanding the removal of the explicit allocation provision.” If. as you state, the allocation provision was removed, it does not seem reasonable to assume the intent of Congress was that the allocation remain unchanged.

In fact, the 2003 law changed the directive to OPM. As the legislative history shows, it was intended to “repeal” the 1974 law (Senate Report No. 108-35, page 6). OPM was required to adopt modern dynamic methods. Dynamic methods dictate that OPM take into account the effect of future salary increases on the total liability. Using these methods, OPM was to capture the size of the postal liability and the respective responsibilities of the Postal Service and OPM to satisfy the liability. Instead, OPM applied dynamic assumptions solely to the Postal Sen/ice’s share of the liability — not to its own share. It appears that OPM failed to follow the 2003 law and now must agree to do so or be compelled by law for a second time.

The current OPM methodology is neither fair nor modern nor does it comply with the 2003 law. We agree with you that action from Congress is necessary to settle this issue once and for all. We believe Congress did just that in 2003. If OPM cannot be convinced of the need to change its methodology, the only alternative is for Congress to compel OPM to act by adding even more explicit reform language to the legislation currently being prepared.

USPS OIG Response to GAO Report