0n July 24, 2013, strictly by party lines, Congressman Darrell Issa’s (R-CA) postal reform legislation, H.R. 2748, was marked up and passed by the full Committee (Oversight and Government Reform).  The vote was by a 22-17 margin.  The mark-up process is used to formulate legislation by considering amendments to a draft bill.

President Hegarty reached out to Chairman Issa and Ranking Member Cummings in a letter dated July 18, 2013 (see previous posting on this website) expressing concern on what should be in an acceptable bill, and what is needed to make the USPS viable economically, both now and for the foreseeable future.  These reasonable suggestions fell on the deaf ears of Chairman Issa and the Republican majority on the Committee.

All amendments put forward by Democrats that would have been helpful to the USPS were soundly defeated, again, along party lines.

Some of the most onerous portions of H.R. 2748, as marked-up:

• CHANGES LAYOFF LANGUAGE IN NEXT NATIONAL AGREEMENT
• CONSOLIDATES PROCESSING PLANTS
• INCREASES HEALTH BENEFIT COSTS FOR EMPLOYEES
• DOES NOT MAINTAIN SERVICE STANDARDS
• INTERFERES WITH COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
• DOES NOT FAIRLY ADDRESS FERS OVERPAYMENTS
• MAINTAINS ROADBLOCKS TO SEEKING ADDITIONAL REVENUE FOR USPS COFFERS
• ALLOWS FIVE-DAY DELIVERY AND FORCES USE OF CLUSTER BOXES INSTEAD OF DOOR DELIVERY

 All mail handlers are urged to write to their Members of Congress, to urge a vote against the Issa legislation.