House Republican leaders last week backed away from a plan replenishing the Highway Trust Fund with the so-called “savings” from terminating Saturday mail delivery, after groups from both sides of the political spectrum, including NAPS, announced their opposition to the scheme and its foremost backer, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) lost his reelection bid.
Foes of Saturday mail delivery in the House of Representatives haven’t given up, however. Saturday delivery faces another test on Capitol Hill this week, when a House panel considers a government funding bill that, for the first time in over thirty years, does not mandate six day delivery.
The House Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee on Wednesday will consider its FY 2015 spending measure that, as introduced last week, does not contain the longstanding rider mandating the Postal Service to deliver six days a week. The language has been included in the annual appropriations bill since 1983.
Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY), the ranking member on the subcommittee, is expected to offer an amendment restoring the language to the bill, an action supported by NAPS.
Across Capitol Hill, the counterpart panel, the Senate Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee, is scheduled on Tuesday to approve its FY 2015 spending bill. Details on the bill have not yet been released, but it is expected to include the six-day delivery mandate language.
If the House does not include the six-day language in its bill, but the Senate does, the final decision on inclusion will be decided by a House-Senate conference early this fall to reconcile differences between the two bills.
The six-day language in the annual government funding bill has blocked Postmaster General Pat Donahoe’s plans to eliminate Saturday mail delivery for the past several years. Last year, after Donahoe announced his plan to eliminate Saturday mail delivery, while keeping it for packages, he was forced to reverse course after the Government Accountability Office ruled the appropriations rider prevented the agency from delivering fewer than six days per week.
More than 220 lawmakers, including 40 Republicans, have signed on to a resolution (House Resolution 30) sponsored by Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO) and Gerry Connolly, D-Va., to ensure six-day mail delivery.
With these events unfolding, NAPS is taking action to protect Six Day Delivery. We are asking our members who live in districts represented by members of the Appropriations committee to send their lawmaker targeting messaging urging a “Yes” vote on the Sorrano amendment. This alert can be found here. If you live in one of these districts, we urge you take immediate action.