NAPS Leg/Reg Update – September 20, 2012-

Congressional lawmakers are close to turning off the lights and heading home for the final pre-election campaign push.  They have nearly checked-off their final “must-do” item before the November elections — keeping the government funded through a stopgap continuing resolution or “CR” as it’s known to Hill hands.

The Senate is nearing passage of the CR that’s already been approved by the House of Representatives.  That measure keeps the government funded for the next six months — and includes two postal provisions, continuing the long-standing Congressional mandate of six-day delivery, along with restrictions on the closure of post offices.

Although both chambers will officially remain in session on Capitol Hill for at least another week before departing for the pre-election recess, no one expects anything of importance to occur on postal legislation (or much else for that matter) between now and November 6 than pre-election posturing and political point-scoring.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrel Issa (R-CA) last week attempted to blunt House and Senate Democrat criticism of House inaction on postal reform by proposing to President Obama that the CR include an “interim reform package” of postal provisions.  The proposed deal, which Issa said would address the Postal Service’s prefunding default situation and lay the groundwork for further reform, failed to spark immediate interest at the White House — though it could get some traction after the elections.

Issa’s proposal would: (1) revamp the Postal Service’s retiree health pre-funding payments, according to a formula previously advanced by the Obama White House; (2) permit the Postal Service to immediately move to five-day delivery, a move also favored by the White House; and (3) prospectively prohibit the inclusion of no lay-off provisions in all Federal government labor agreements, including those involving the Postal Service.  Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), chairman of the Senate postal oversight subcommittee, criticized Issa’s proposal for avoiding the regular process in the House for proceeding with legislative action by hitchhiking on to a government funding bill.

Issa’s proposal could generate more interest when Congress returns for a lame duck session in November, following the elections.  One scenario involves the House taking up and approving the Issa-Ross postal reform measure (HR 2309), leading to  House-Senate negotiations over an abbreviated compromise measure.  Another involves  starting anew with a small, scaled-down hybrid measure, akin to Issa’s latest proposal, that’s worked out beforehand through talks between House and Senate leaders.

The Senate passed its postal reform measure (S. 1789) in April.  Since then, many House Republicans have been reluctant to cast pre-election votes for the Issa-Ross postal bill because of its cost-saving cuts in post offices and postal services.

Even during the lame duck session, postal reform could face a tough ride.  With major legislative issues awaiting Congress’ attention during the lame duck session, including extending the Bush era tax cuts and avoiding automatic spending cuts, action on postal legislation could stall and roll-over to the next Congress.