AAP on the Hill / Issues: Postal Issues

May 01, 2003

AAP Cheers Enactment of Postal Relief Measure

AAP applauded the swift action of Congress in passing legislation that will avert a debt crisis at the U.S. Postal Service and stabilize postal rates at their current level until at least 2006. The bill, S. 380, was passed by the Senate on April 2 and by the House on April 8, and signed into law by President Bush on April 22.   The new law will prevent unnecessary payments that would have overfunded the Postal Service’s obligation to the Civil Service Retirement System by some $71 billion.

AAP lobbied hard for the legislation after a financial analysis by the Office of Personnel Management revealed that the Postal Service had almost fully funded its retirement obligation for postal employees and that additional payments at the current rate would substantially overfund USPS’ liability.  The new law corrects the statutory formula for Postal Service contributions and stipulates that the savings are to be used to pay down USPS’s debt to the Treasury, maintain current postage rates without increases until 2006 at the earliest, and fund postal retiree health benefits.

“This is great news,” said AAP President and CEO Pat Schroeder.  “Book publishers, who rely heavily on the Postal Service for shipping books to libraries, schools, and bookstores, were hit especially hard by the recent series of postal rate increases.  This gives the industry a little breathing room.”

For more information contact:

Gloria Romanelli
Ph: 202-220-4542
Email: gromanelli@publishers.org