Stuck in the Muck with Inactive Congress

It has been nearly one year since the U.S. Senate introduced its Bill S.1789 – 21st Century Postal Service Act of 2012. The bill was passed by the Senate on April 25, 2012. The House Bill H.R. 2309 is a partisan bill sponsored by Congressmen Darrell Issa [R – CA] and Dennis Ross [R – FL]. It was reported out by House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform chairman Issa, but has gone no further toward House passage. Without a House postal bill there is nothing to confer a compromise bill with the Senate, and ultimately nothing for a President to sign. The House could vote to pass the Senate version of postal legislation, but there are very striking differences between the bills making such a vote unlikely to happen.

For many of us in the printing and mailing industry this failure to act has been very frustrating. The Postal Service continues to do its job right now, but the bad press around facilities closures and a financial cliff of their own is calling into question the future viability of the Postal Service. It is frustrating that our industry associations, individual companies, and employees have spent the last two years meeting with all of the key House members educating them about the 8 million private sector jobs in the mailing industry. The Institute for Postal Studies Mailing Industry Job Study of 2010 (currently being updated) listed these job categories by State and Congressional District. This has given our House of Representatives specifics about the number of industry-related jobs and revenues in their own Districts. One would think this information would motivate a call to action. Apparently not.

We are now in a state of unlikely activity on the legislation. There are few legislative workdays between now and Election Day.  Following that is the lame-duck session, and who knows what will happen before the holiday break? I would not bet anything on House passage. The odds are thin and getting thinner every week. If we go into the next Congress, we start over. In the end it may take a Postal Service fiscal crisis for Congress to act. In my opinion, this drama of inaction has been a willful disrespect of our industry by our elected Representatives, placing unnecessary risk to its growth and 8 million jobs.

There is still time to write your Representative and express our need for action on H.R. 2309. Let them know how many employees work in your organization. A suggested template for your letter can be found on our website: www.wsel.com/legislate. Your Congressional Representative can be found at www.house.gov. These Representatives should go to work for us now and earn our votes in November.