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Today, the House Subcommittee on Government Operations held a hearing titled “Oversight of the U.S. Postal Service: The Financial Future Under Postmaster General Steiner.”

The subcommittee called Postmaster General David Steiner and David Marroni, director of physical infrastructure at the Government Accountability Office, to testify. Since Congress oversees the Postal Service, it is customary for the postmaster general to be called to testify. This was Steiner's first opportunity since assuming the position last summer to lay out his vision for the agency before the subcommittee. 

In his opening remarks, Chairman Pete Sessions (R-TX) acknowledged that addressing the agency’s financial situation was critical. 

Ranking Member Kweisi Mfume (D-MD) recognized the recent threats facing the Postal Service, including President Trump threatening to put the agency under the Department of Commerce and fire the USPS Board of Governors last year. “The last thing we want is a privatized system,” he said. He also recognized postal employees' dedication and emphasized that no postal employee should ever fear for their safety while at work. 

In his opening statement, Steiner said that if the “status quo” continues, the Postal Service will run out of cash in 12 months. He referenced declining mail volume, the agency’s unfair Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) pension obligations, USPS’s frozen borrowing authority that has not been lifted in decades, the Postal Service being prohibited from responsibly investing its retiree and health pension funds, and USPS not controlling its workers' compensation claims for the current financial situation. He called on Congress to act now by raising the borrowing authority. “One easy action – increasing our borrowing authority – buys us time. Time that we can use to best determine what the Postal Service should do to best serve the American public,” he said.

NALC supports and has advocated for several of these commonsense changes for years. A recalculation of CSRS pension obligations, increasing the borrowing authority, and changing the investment strategy for retiree and health pension funds are key financial changes that Congress and the administration should adopt. In his testimony, Steiner suggested modifications on federal workers’ compensation for postal employees. However, NALC strongly opposes any limitations on letter carriers’ workers' compensation benefits.

In his questioning, Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA) referenced a recent Office of Inspector General (OIG) report that revealed the Postal Service spent more than 800 million dollars on grievances. Walkinshaw expressed skepticism about how an agency that cannot comply with a collective bargaining agreement would properly handle workers’ compensation claims. Steiner said USPS would “outsource” the process. 

Overall, members’ questions focused on service quality, shipping competitors, funding for Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDVs), letter carriers’ participation in the census pilot program, postal facilities, employee safety and more. Several members thanked postal workers for their dedication and service.

“NALC will continue leading advocacy efforts for necessary policy and administrative changes to stabilize the agency’s finances,” NALC President Brian L. Renfroe said. “However, we will fiercely fight limiting letter carriers’ workers’ compensation benefits in any way or increasing usage of non-career employees in our craft as some in the hearing suggested. Even suggesting such foolish actions are insulting to America’s hardworking letter carriers.

“Local postal management’s lack of contract compliance costs the agency hundreds of millions of dollars. An agency that struggles to uphold the basic tenets of a mutual agreement should not have sole control over something as critical as workers’ compensation claims. The current non-career workforce in the city letter craft is a failed experiment.

“We’ll keep fighting like hell for a secure future for the Postal Service. But we’ll fight even harder against those who push any changes that would potentially harm our dedicated, hardworking members,” he said.

Following the hearing, NALC will submit comments for the record.