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H.R. 2382: USPS Fairness Act

Feb 5, 2020 at 5:48 p.m. ET. On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass in the House.

This was a vote to pass H.R. 2382 (116th) in the House. This vote was taken under a House procedure called “suspension of the rules” which is typically used to pass non-controversial bills. Votes under suspension require a 2/3rds majority. A failed vote under suspension can be taken again.

Only one federal agency is required to pre-fund their employees’ future retirement healthcare benefits, which costs taxpayers billions more upfront than at any other agency.

Context

At its current rate of financial loss, the U.S. Postal Service is slated to run out of money in 2024. The Trump Administration’s budget proposal warned that — absent any changes — the USPS might soon need a taxpayer funded bailout.

Why? There are several hundred federal agencies, but only one is mandated to pre-fund its employees future healthcare benefits: the Postal Service.

This wasn’t always the case. The mandate only began starting with the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006. It passed both the Senate and House by voice votes, procedures used for noncontroversial votes in which no record of individual members’ votes is made.

However, that provision has become much more controversial in the years since.

What the bill does

The USPS Fairness Act would eliminate the pre-funding requirement. Advocates claim that it could single-handedly put the Postal Service out of the red and into the black.

The bill was introduced in the House on April 29 as bill number H.R. 2382, by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR4).

What supporters say

Supporters argue the bill makes financial sense, puts the Postal Service on an even footing with literally every other federal agency, and helps ensure the solvency of one the programs that most directly affects ordinary Americans.

“The USPS is a critical resource for Southwest Oregon, especially our rural communities,” Rep. DeFazio said in a press release. “The pre-funding mandate has not only prevented USPS from investing in services, technology and products, but it has also threatened core services that Oregonians rely on, including door-to-door delivery and six-day delivery. This legislation will not only end USPS’s financial crisis but will allow the agency to invest in critical improvements, all while maintaining its commitments to retirees’ health benefits.”

What opponents say

GovTrack Insider was unable to locate any explicit statements of opposition, but the main sources of opposition are the Postal Service’s private sector competitors who would rather keep their opposition behind the scenes.

2006’s pre-funding requirement put the U.S. Postal Service at a staggering competitive disadvantage with the likes of FedEx and UPS. And the Postal Service is banned from lobbying Congress — unlike their private sector competitors.

“It’s also significant that lots of companies benefit from a burden that makes the USPS less competitive,” _Bloomberg _opinion columnist Barry Ritholtz wrote. “These same companies might also would benefit from full USPS privatization, a goal that has been pushed by several conservative think tanks for years.”

“Paying retiree obligations isn’t the issue here; rather, being singled out as the only company with a congressional requirement to fully fund those obligations is,” Ritholtz continued. “It puts the USPS at a huge competitive disadvantage.”

Odds of passage

The bill has attracted 29 bipartisan House cosponsors: 23 Democrats and six Republicans. It awaits a potential vote in the House Oversight and Reform Committee.

But as mentioned above, industry’s lobbying to mandate the status quo would likely be strong. FedEx spent $10.1 million on lobbying last year, while UPS spent $9.3 million.

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Vote Outcome
All Votes D R I
Yea 74%
 
 
 
309
222
 
87
 
0
 
Nay 26%
 
 
 
106
0
 
105
 
1
 
Not Voting
 
 
 
14
9
 
5
 
0
 

Passed. 2/3 Required. Source: house.gov.

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Notes: The Speaker’s Vote?
The Speaker of the House is not required to vote in “ordinary legislative proceedings, except when such vote would be decisive.” In practice, this means the Speaker of the House rarely votes and only does so when it is politically useful. When the Speaker declines to vote, he or she is simply omitted from the roll call by the House Clerk. (See House Rules, Rule I(7).)
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Study Guide

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You can find answers to most of the questions below here on the vote page. For a guide to understanding the bill this vote was about, see here.

What was the procedure for this vote?

  1. What was this vote on?

    2. Not all votes are meant to pass legislation. In the Senate some votes are not about legislation at all, since the Senate must vote to confirm presidential nominations to certain federal positions.

    This vote is related to a bill. However, that doesn’t necessarily tell you what it is about. Congress makes many decisions in the process of passing legislation, such as on the procedures for debating the bill, whether to change the bill before voting on passage, and even whether to vote on passage at all.

    You can learn more about the various motions used in Congress at EveryCRSReport.com. If you aren’t sure what the House was voting on, try seeing if it’s on this list.

  2. What is the next step after this vote?

    3. Take a look at where this bill is in the legislative process. What might come next? Keep in mind what this specific vote was on, and the context of the bill. Will there be amendments? Will the other chamber of Congress vote on it, or let it die?

    For this question it may help to briefly examine the bill itself.

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  1. What trends do you see in this vote?

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    One tool that will be helpful in answering this question is the cartogram at the top of the page. A cartogram is a stylized map of the United States that shows each district as an identical hexagon. This view allows you to see the how the representatives from each district voted arranged by their geography and colored by their political party. What trends can you see in the cartogram for this vote?

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