The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Ranking Member Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) will hold a hearing titled “Reforming and Renewing the Postal Service, Part II – Promoting a 21st Century Workforce” this Thursday at 10 a.m. Proceedings can be followed live via this link or on C-SPAN. Debate is expected to focus on USPS’s $5.6 billion annual obligation to pre-fund health care for retirees
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe regularly blames the payment for keeping the Postal Service in the red. The elimination or alteration of the payments is also one of the reform issues that mailers, labor, and USPS officials all agree on. At Part I of the hearings last week, American Postal Workers Union President Cliff Guffey asserted that “Any discussion of the financial condition of the Postal Service has to begin with the fundamental cause of the USPS financial crisis–the pre-funding requirement for retiree health benefits.”
The session, according to the Committee, will also explore the evolving role of postal workers in the digital age. Following is the witness list scheduled to testify at the hearing:
Patrick R. Donahoe, Postmaster General and CEO, USPS
Jonathan Foley, Director, Planning and Policy Analysis, U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Frank Todisco, Chief Actuary, U.S. Government Accountability Office
John E. Dicken, Director, Health Care,U.S. Government Accountability Office
Frederic V. Rolando, President, National Association of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO
John Hegarty, National President, National Postal Mail Handlers Union
Robert J. Rapoza, President, National Association of Postmasters of the United States
Douglas J. Holtz-Eakin, President, American Action Forum
Dean Baker, Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research
