Government affairs

Budget Battle 2017

Sept. 8, 2017

Members of Congress returned to Capitol Hill this week following the August recess and were able to approve a package to raise the debt ceiling until Dec. 8, to fund the government through the same date, and to provide $15.25 billion in disaster aid as a response to Hurricane Harvey. The bill passed the Senate the day before in an 80-17 vote, and by 316-90 in the House. The bill now proceeds to President Donald Trump to be signed into law.

This is good news for the people suffering from these disasters, good news for federal employees (who will not face immediate furloughs), and good news for the country.

But letter carriers must not let their guard down. While a continuing resolution will fund the government through Dec. 8, allowing disagreements on the Fiscal Year 2018 budget to be hashed out between now and then, letter carriers know that when spending deals are being made, spending cuts are likely on the table. These are likely to come up again between now and Dec. 8, so we must make known our opposition to such cuts. Here are a few provisions that are being considered.

• Raising federal employees’ pension contributions by up to 6.45 percent of pay over the next six years, costing active letter carriers up to $3,600 per year.  
• Eliminating cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for current and future retirees under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS).
• Reducing COLAs for the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) annuitants by 0.5 percent each year.
• Reducing CSRS and FERS pension benefits for new retirees by basing annuities on employees’ highest average pay over five years (high-5) instead of over three years (high-3).
• Eliminating the annuity supplement that covers the gap for employees who retire under FERS before they qualify for Social Security benefits at age 62.
• Slashing the rate of interest paid on assets invested in the Thrift Savings Plan Government Securities Fund (G Fund), costing active and retired letter carriers alike $32 billion over 10 years.
• $46 billion in revenue changes and vaguely defined cuts to the Postal Service, most likely through reducing the frequency of delivery (eliminating Saturday delivery) and scaling back door delivery.
• Making the financially independent U.S. Postal Service part of the federal budget—moving it from an “off-budget” status to an “on-budget” status—and potentially opening the agency to across-the-board spending cuts (sequestration) and service disruptions should the federal government shut down during budget conflicts.

These budget threats are very real. All letter carriers—as well as family members, friends and neighbors—need to contact representatives in the House and Senate now and through Dec. 8. Your legislators need to know that their voters object to slashing the incomes of active and retired letter carriers (and all federal employees) and to gutting the services and vital networks of the U.S. Postal Service.

Member Action Center

Town halls

Is your Senator/Representative having a town hall? Find out here.

Call your legislators in Washington now

Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and be ready to provide your ZIP code to get connected with your House representative and with both of your senators.

Say:

“As a voter from [your district/your state], I urge you to oppose any budget resolution or any spending bill that calls for pay and benefit cuts for letter carriers, postal employees and federal employees or that attacks the vital services provided by the Postal Service.”

Mention how such cuts would affect you personally. Explain the potential harm a “yes” vote would mean for you, your family members, your co-workers and USPS.

Also, ask your adult family members, friends and neighbors to call their House member and both senators, as well.

You can look up the district offices of your senators’ and the district office of your House representative and deliver the same message over the phone to staff members there.

• To find out who your congressional district’s House representative is, click here. Type in your ZIP code and click the large red button labeled “Find your rep by ZIP.” On the next page that comes up, click on the representative’s name—it’s a link to his or her official web page. There, you will be able to search the page for the phone number of the district office nearest you. (Note that there are cases where a ZIP code covers more than one congressional district.)
• For both of your state’s senators’ home offices, click here to get to Senate’s main contact page. Locate the name of the senator with whom you wish to speak, and click on his or her name—it’s a link to his or her official web page. There, you will be able to search the page for the phone number of the district office nearest you.

To have an even greater impact, also send your message in a letter to the district offices of your House and Senate representatives. Use the links above to find the mailing addresses.

NALC Member App

Follow NALC’s lead on fighting these budget cuts by using the free NALC Member App for Apple and Android smartphones. After you download the app, enter your home ZIP code when asked. Tap “Gov’t Affairs” at the bottom of the screen. Under “My congressional directory” are links to your House and Senate representatives. Tap the “Learn More” link to be connected to your member of Congress’ official web page, where you can locate district office addresses and phone numbers.