Government affairs

Today, a bipartisan group of 13 House lawmakers reintroduced their anti-privatization of the Postal Service for the 116th Congress, calling on the House to 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.”

The bipartisan resolution was introduced by Reps. Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Rodney Davis (R-IL), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Paul Cook (R-CA), Brian Mast (R-FL), Don Young (R-AK), Cedric Richmond (D-LA), Stephanie Murphy (D-FL), Dave Loebsack (D-IA), Marcia Fudge (D-OH), Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Susan Davis (D-CA), and House Oversight and Reform Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD).

The resolution, H. Res. 33, is identical to the resolution introduced in the 115th Congress, H. Res. 993, which reached 240 cosponsors, well above the necessary 218 members for a majority of support in the chamber. It is now the second Congress in a row that these supportive lawmakers have introduced this resolution.

The resolution was first introduced in the 115th Congress in response government reorganization and restructure plan titled “Delivery Government Solutions in the 21st Century," put forward by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). While the report takes direct aim at numerous agencies, it calls for privatizing the Postal Service.

On December 4, 2018, the White House Postal Task Force released its long-awaited report, which NALC President Fredric Rolando called “a huge missed opportunity filled with legislative recommendations that are likely to be dead on arrival in Congress.”

Among a number of unacceptable suggestions, there was some good news. The report does not expressly call for the privatization of the Postal Service, though it does highlight the privatization of postal systems such as Germany and New Zealand.

In the effort to reach another bipartisan majority against privatization, NALC encourages all letter carriers to contact their members of Congress to become cosponsors on this resolution.

Click here to see whether your representative co-sponsored this measure in the last Congress.

Letter carriers should note, of the 240 members (184 Democrats and 56 Republicans) who supported our efforts against privatization in the 115th Congress, 36 are no longer in Congress (including 16 Democrats and 20 Republicans). A deficit of 36 leaves us well below the magic number of 218 that represents a majority of the House.

With such high turnover from the 2019 midterms, many letter carriers’ representatives are one of the 121 freshmen who may need to be educated on our issues. If your Member is a freshman, take the time to research him or her and learn a few things about their background before you reach out.