OMB to Testify on Postal Service Cost Cutting Provisions in the President’s Budget

WASHINGTON – House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) today announced that Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Deputy Director Brian Deese will testify Tuesday at the full committee hearing titled, “The President’s Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Proposal for the Postal Service.” The hearing will examine President Obama’s most recent budget recommendations for reform of the U.S. Postal Service and marks the first time OMB has testified before the Oversight Committee on Postal reform.

“The Committee will hear from OMB on sorely needed cost cutting provisions for the Postal Service in the President’s budget,” said Chairman Issa.  ““While my Democratic colleagues on the Committee have yet to embrace specific cost-cutting reforms,  I’m pleased that the President has proposed changes that will help get the USPS back on the path to solvency, and that the White House recognizes that the agency must cut costs.

The hearing will provide a forum for the Administration to testify concerning their budget proposals for the Postal Service.  In the past, President Obama has endorsed a number of significant postal reform proposals, including permitting a shift from six-day to five-day delivery of mail.  In its latest budget proposal, the White House for the first time proposes such additional reforms as shifting to more cost-effective and secure forms of mail delivery.  This hearing will give Members an opportunity to hear directly from the Office of Management and Budget about these proposals, and why the Administration believes they are now necessary.

Background

On March 4, 2014, the President released his Fiscal Year 2015 budget proposal.  It includes a series of policy recommendations for Postal Service reform, including:

·         Giving the Postal Service the authority to eliminate Saturday mail delivery immediately upon enactment;
·         Allowing the Postal Service to collaborate with State and local governments;
·         Allowing the Postal Service to shift to centralized and curbside delivery, where appropriate;
·         Codifying the current plan to avoid rural post office closures;
·         Extending the Postal Regulatory Commission’s December 2013 “exigent” postage rate increase beyond two years;
·         Restructuring the Postal Service’s retiree health care prefunding requirement to shift to an actuarial funding basis more quickly; and
·         Refunding, over two years, a projected surplus in the Postal Service’s Federal Employee Retirement System account.

Hearing Details:
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
“The President’s Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Proposal for the Postal Service”
Full Committee, Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA)
10:00 a.m. in Rayburn 2154

Witness:

The Honorable Brian Deese
Deputy Director
Office of Management and Budget