Government affairs

Following a week off, Congress is back on Capitol Hill facing a busy schedule, which includes a series of must-pass bills before the end of the month.

Letter carriers can expect the Senate to release its Financial Service and General Government (FSGG) appropriations bill in the coming weeks, full floor consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and several more hearings and markups around Fiscal Year 2019 appropriations. Letter carriers can expect the House to consider its first “minibus” (H.R. 5895) this week, which incorporates the FY19 Energy and Water, Military Construction VA, and Legislative Branch appropriation bills; and a possible in-party showdown on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) as moderate Republicans try to force a vote on the issue.

This follows a busy month of May, which saw the House FSGG subcommittee uphold six-day mail delivery in its FY19 appropriations bill; the advancement of two USPS Board of Governors nominees; a flurry of activity around opioid legislation; the introduction of two postal banking measures; the introduction of the Securing the International Mail against Opioids Act (H.R. 5788), a replacement for the stalled Strengthen Opioid Misuse Prevention (STOP) Act (H.R. 1057); a House OGR hearing around the release of the President’s Management Agenda; and most significant, the release of three executive orders on May 25 taking aim at federal employees.

Of particular note, NALC met with the White House Postal Task Force today to discuss the workforce recommendations on administrative and legislative reforms to USPS. As part of the postal workforce, NALC knows how to improve USPS and provided the task force with the following four documents.

• Making the Postal Service Great Again: Workforce Submission to the White House Task Force on the USPS
• Making the Postal Service Great Again: Workforce Submission to the White House Task Force on the USPS – Executive Summary
• Policy Options for Eliminating or Reducing the Prefunding Burden
• History of Postal Reform Legislation

Our priority resolutions continue to enjoy broad bipartisan support

• H. Res. 15 – 251 Cosponsors (181 Democrats – 70 Republicans)
• H. Res. 28 – 243 Cosponsors (185 Democrats – 58 Republicans)
• H. Res. 31 – 216 Cosponsors (169 Democrats – 47 Republicans)