Government affairs

As they have across the country, protests continued in Washington DC this week in response to the death of George Floyd and the lack of action from the federal government in addressing existing institutional racism through long-overdue reforms. NALC President Fredric V. Rolando’s statement, which he released last week on the matter is viewable here.

Both the House and Senate were in session with a lot of attention from both chambers being paid to addressing police reform. Congressional Democrats have released a joint House and Senate bill that seeks to tackle the issue while House and Senate Republicans appear to be working on their own separate pieces of legislation.

Separately, work continues on appropriations for the upcoming fiscal year in the House while Senate leadership have announced their intention to wait until nearly the end of July to take up the House-passed HEROES Act (H.R. 6800), the fourth emergency aid package in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

NALC Activity

NALC continues to call attention to the need for relief for the duration of the crisis—to fully cover the difference between postage revenues and total USPS expenses during this crisis as well as a mechanism to reimburse the Postal Service for the cost of Covid-19-related leave.

To support our continued efforts, letter carriers should continue contacting their members of Congress to urge support for funding in the next stimulus package. Let Congress know that the Postal Service doesn’t need more debt and that we now have overwhelming voter support for funding. Click here to take action.

In addition, letter carriers should encourage their friends and families to visit the newly launched website www.HeroesDelivering.com, which provides information and resources to the general public on the importance of USPS and the need to keep it strong and well-funded during this pandemic. It gives readers an easy means to contact their legislators and call on them to support funding for the Postal Service in the next legislative package.

Congressional activity

On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs advanced several nominations including Lee Moak and William Zollars to serve on the Postal Board of Governors (BOG). Both nominees testified last week regarding their views and approach it confirmed to serve on the BOG (read more here). Currently, the Board consists of four governors including Chairman Robert Duncan, John Barger, Ron Bloom and Roman Martinez. Outgoing Postmaster General Meghan Brennan will be replaced next week with incoming Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. With Moak and Zollars nominations advancing the Committee today, the full Senate is expected to take action on their nomination in the coming days or weeks.

On Tuesday, Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), along with 164 House colleagues and 33 Senate colleagues, introduced the “Justice in Policing Act of 2020” (H.R. 7120/S. 3912). The bill’s release comes in response to the existing institutional racism and demand long-overdue reforms to prevent the recurrence of what happened in Minnesota (and also in Georgia and Kentucky) in May. Among the many provisions included in this bill, the Justice in Policing Act would establish a national standard for the operation of police departments; mandate data collection on police encounters; reprogram existing funds to invest in transformative community-based policing programs; streamline federal law to prosecute excessive force and establish independent prosecutors for police investigations; and more. The legislation seeks to tackle systemic racism and bias as part of the efforts to build trust between law enforcement and American communities.

As of press, no Republicans have co-sponsored the legislation, but are reportedly working on their own police reform proposals. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) tapped Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) to lead the chamber’ effort, while Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) is looking to release his own plan shortly. Read more here.

Administration activity

Starting July 27, a new rule from the Department of Labor (DOL) will allow private sector retirement plan administrators to use email, texts, and websites as a default means to provide participants and beneficiaries the required documents about their retirement plans. The “Default Electronic Delivery by Employee Pension Benefit Plans under ERISA” rule from the DOL upends the current system which provides hard copy disclosures through the mail, but allows retirement plan participants and beneficiaries to opt into e-delivery, if they would prefer. NALC opposes the rule change. Read more here.

Judicial activity

On Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected a request from the AFL-CIO to require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue an emergency temporary standard (ETS) on infection control in the workplace. The three judge panel found that, “in light of the unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the regulatory tools that the OSHA has at its disposal to ensure that employers are maintaining hazard-free work environments… the OSHA reasonably determined that an ETS is not necessary at this time.” The HEROES Act (H.R. 6800), the fourth legislative package in response to the pandemic, passed the House in May and would require OSHA to issue an ETS. The Republican controlled-Senate has opted to delay action on the package.

2020 election activity

2020 primary dates have been changed and lots of in-person voting locations have closed due to the Covid-19 crisis. Many states are opting to expand absentee and vote-at-home measures so voters and poll workers may remain safe during this election season.

To find the most accurate and up to date information specific to your state elections, you can visit your state’s secretary of state webpage (ex: Ohio) and look for “elections” or if your state does not have a secretary of state, search for the office of elections (example: Hawaii). You can also visit the National Conference of State Legislatures webpage on state primary dates, which is tracking all date changes.

NALC Priority Bills/Resolutions

H.R. 2382/S. 2965 – USPS Fairness Act
Status: Passed House of Representatives, introduced in Senate by Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT)
Co-sponsors: 7 Senate (4 Democrats – 3 Republicans)
House vote: 309 Yea (222 Democrats – 87 Republicans) – 106 Nays (105 Republicans – 1 Independent)

To repeal the requirement that the United States Postal Service prepay future retirement benefits.

House Resolution 23 (H. Res. 23) – Door Delivery
Status: Introduced by Reps. Susan Davis (D-CA) and Peter King (R-NY)
Co-sponsors: 261 (207 Democrats – 54 Republicans)

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States Postal Service should take all appropriate measures to ensure the continuation of door delivery for all business and residential customers.

House Resolution 33 (H. Res. 33) – Anti-privatization
Status: Introduced by Reps. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) and Rodney Davis (R-IL)
Co-sponsors: 267 (226 Democrats – 41 Republicans)

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should take all appropriate measures to ensure that the United States Postal Service remains an independent establishment of the Federal Government and is not subject to privatization.

House Resolution 54 (H. Res. 54) – Six-day Delivery
Status: Introduced by Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) and Sam Graves (R-MO)
Co-sponsors: 293 (217 Democrats – 76 Republicans)

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States Postal Service should take all appropriate measures to ensure the continuation of its six-day mail delivery service.

House Resolution 60 (H. Res. 60) – Service Standards
Status: Introduced by Rep. David McKinley (R-WV) and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
Co-sponsors: 206 (180 Democrats – 26 Republicans)

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States Postal Service should take all appropriate measures to restore service standards in effect as of July 1, 2012.

Senate Resolution 99 (S. Res. 99) – Anti-privatization
Status: Introduced by Sens. Gary Peters and Jerry Moran (R-KS)
Co-sponsors: 54 (44 Democrats – 8 Republicans – 2 Independents)

Expressing the sense of the Senate that Congress should take all appropriate measures to ensure that the United States Postal Service remains an independent establishment of the Federal Government and is not subject to privatization in whole or in part.

H.R. 2478 – Fed Retirement Fairness Act
Status: Introduced by Reps. Derek Kilmer (D-WA) and Tom Cole (R-OK)
Co-sponsors: 58 (45 Democrats – 13 Republicans)

To provide certain federal employees the opportunity to make catch-up retirement contributions for time spent as temporary employees after Dec. 31, 1988, thus making such time creditable service under the Federal Employees Retirement System. Now applies to temporary postal employees, such as letter carriers who spent time as casuals, TEs, and CCAs.

H.R. 2474/S. 1306 – PRO Act
Status: Passed House of Representatives, introduced in Senate by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)
Co-sponsors: Senate 41 (40 Democrat, 1 Independent, 0 Republican)
House vote: 224 Yea (219 Democrats – 5 Republicans) – 194 Nays (186 Republicans – 1 Independent)

To increase protections for workers’ right to organize and bargain for higher wages, better benefits, and safer working conditions.