Government Executive - Authors - Zach Patton

Report challenges Commerce program aimed at small manufacturers

Zach Patton — Mon, 07 Jun 2004 00:00:00 -0400

Members of the National Academy of Public Administration who authored the report said Monday that federal underfunding and restrictive funding formulas impede the success of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program. Although the report calls the program a "valuable resource," it calls for revision and expansion of the Commerce Department program to meet the evolving needs of manufacturers.

"The MEP's current model is simply not geared to address the evolving barriers that face small manufacturers in remaining competitive," said Frank Reeder, who chaired the report panel.

Reeder said MEP should expand its platform of technical and business assistance to emphasize technological diffusion, new product development and supply-chain integration. The report also calls for MEP to develop an "integrated national network of assistance."

Although 59 MEP centers are spread across the country, their activities frequently are uncoordinated with other centers or the national headquarters. Reeder said these "semi-autonomous" centers -- which are housed on state university campuses, within nonprofit groups or as state governmental agencies -- form the skeleton for a national network, but MEP must work to integrate them further.

The report also states that the Commerce Department should use the creation of a new federal manufacturing czar to consider realigning and integrating its manufacturing assistance programs.

Although the study does not recommend specific funding levels for MEP, Reeder called for greater funding flexibility from Congress. He said the current congressional funding model, which requires states to match federal funds two-to-one in order to receive money, "may be restrictive." That matching requirement sometimes drives MEP centers to focus on fee-raising programs rather than those with the most potential to help manufacturers, Reeder said.

"The panel is not recommending abandonment of the matching program entirely," he said. "But Congress might wish to set aside some of the funds as 'no-match' funds."

NAPA project director Joseph Thompson also said overhauling MEP would require changing the funding formula. "What we're proposing is not possible without some funding flexibility," Thompson said.

Speaking for himself, Reeder said current federal funding in general is not adequate to support the MEP changes called for in the report. "I think it would be difficult to fund the kind of program envisioned in the report at the current funding level," he said.

The NAPA panel presented its study to Commerce Secretary Donald Evans' staff last week, as well as House Science Committee staff members, although neither group has yet commented on the report. Reeder said the panel may meet with House appropriators in the future to discuss MEP's funding formula.

]]>

House subcommittees approve Homeland Security, Interior budget measures

Greta Wodele and Zach Patton — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 00:00:00 -0400

"Our allocation is not what it should be," said Homeland Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky.

But Rogers said the panel adequately "stretched" funding to support homeland security programs and "moves toward our goals" to prepare and prevent a terrorist attack. The bill, which passed by voice vote, would allocate $1.5 billion more than fiscal 2004 funding.

Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Martin Olav Sabo, D-Minn., said the fiscal 2005 budget resolution passed by the House set "unrealistic" levels for discretionary spending. The bill would increase funding for emergency 'first responders' to $4.1 billion -- $52 million more than the fiscal 2004 level and $504 million more than Bush requested. It also would provide $3.2 billion for the Transportation Security Administration, including $1.4 billion for baggage screening equipment. The full committee is expected to mark up the bill Wednesday.

The House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee also approved a $19.7 billion spending bill. It contains $500 million each for fiscal 2004 and fiscal 2005 for emergency firefighting and $2.6 billion for the national fire plan.

"The upcoming fire season is predicted to be even worse than usual," said Interior Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Norman Dicks, D-Wash.

The bill's overall spending level is $256 million less than the administration's request, but Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Charles Taylor, R-N.C., said the bill is the best use of available funds.

"This is a challenging year, but this bill is balanced and fair," Taylor said.

The bill includes $1.7 billion for national park operations, $33 million above the president's request, Dicks said. He cited "some very ominous reports about the lack of funding for our national parks." The bill also seeks to cut park service expenses by severely restricting international travel by department employees and placing a temporary moratorium on public/private partnership construction projects that exceed $5 million.

]]>

Senate committee passes postal overhaul legislation

Zach Patton — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 00:00:00 -0400

In a 17-0 vote, the committee approved the bill (S. 2468), which is largely based on a postal change bill written last year by Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del. Carper said that Wednesday's legislation improves on his previous bill in the area of health benefits for postal retirees.

A similar postal change bill (H.R. 4341) was approved last month in the House Government Reform Committee, and House and Senate aides said they expect floor votes on the bills sometime in June.

Governmental Affairs Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, Wednesday said she hopes "the comprehensive bipartisan legislation we have drafted would put the Postal Service on stronger financial ground." She also noted the numerous bipartisan cosponsors, as well as broad support for the bill among postal employers and supervisors, commercial mailers and postal competitors.

After accepting a manager's amendment from Collins that made minor changes to the underlying legislation, the committee narrowly approved an amendment from ranking member Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., that would limit the Postal Service's ability to offer work-share discounts to mailers. The Lieberman amendment, which passed on a 9-8 roll call vote, proved to be the only serious sticking point in the committee's consideration of the bill.

Work-share discounts are essentially incentives offered to postal customers who perform tasks that otherwise would be done by the Postal Service itself. The underlying bill would prohibit work-share discounts that exceed the savings seen by the Postal Service, but it includes five exceptions. The Lieberman amendment would strike one of those exceptions -- a catchall provision allowing the Postal Regulatory Commission to approve excessive discounts. The amendment also would amend another of the exceptions that would allow excessive discounts for new postal products and services. The amendment adds a four-year sunset provision.

Carper supported Lieberman's provision, saying it would "close a loophole in our bill." Lieberman said his amendment would facilitate an easier conference on the bill, because the postal bill approved last month by the House Government Reform Committee includes the same four-year time frame. Collins said the underlying bill would sufficiently limit the work-share discounts for new services, because it already would require them to be phased out over time.

"The Lieberman amendment is very prescriptive, and it would eliminate the flexibility that has already been demonstrated as beneficial for both the Postal Service and its customers," she said. Ultimately, the committee accepted the Lieberman amendment on a party-line vote, with only Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who voted by proxy, going against his party.

Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., offered an amendment calling for a General Accounting Office study to determine the feasibility of offering postal rate incentives to mailers who use a certain amount of recycled paper. The committee accepted his amendment by voice vote, with little discussion.

The committee also accepted by voice vote an amendment from Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., to move the responsibility for developing accounting standards for pricing competitive mail products from the Postal Service to the Treasury.

]]>

Senate panel to mark up postal legislation next week

Zach Patton — Wed, 26 May 2004 00:00:00 -0400

The bill was formally introduced last week by Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., and already has attracted a number of bipartisan co-sponsors, including Governmental Affairs ranking member Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and Sens. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and John Sununu, R-N.H.

Postmaster General Jack Potter Wednesday praised congressional work on postal legislation but cited issues in the House and Senate bills "that still need to be resolved."

Potter said neither bill would relieve the agency's major cost burdens -- wages and benefits. He also said both bills would require the Postal Service to prefund its health benefit retirement obligations. Potter said those costs could be as high as $3.9 billion in 2006, and a prefunding requirement would have "an upward pressure on prices."

Potter also noted both bills introduce price caps to keep postal rates affordable. He said he supports the Senate version because it would allow regulators to consider a wider range of the Postal Service's costs when setting the rate cap.

Potter also said he is concerned about the general "lack of specificity in the language" regarding the agency's pricing flexibility.

]]>

House panel votes to require reviews of federal programs

Zach Patton — Thu, 20 May 2004 00:00:00 -0400

The Efficiency and Financial Management Subcommittee approved the measure (H.R. 3826) -- sponsored by Subcommittee Chairman Todd Platts of Pennsylvania -- on a voice vote.

GPRA "has laid a solid foundation for agencies working with Congress to set strategic goals and being able to utilize performance-based information," said Platts, who added that a recent General Accounting Office report however indicated program evaluation is ar area in which federal agencies "consistently come up short."

Platt's bill would amend GPRA with a provision requiring every program to be assessed at least once every five years.

"By requiring [the Office of Management and Budget] to be responsible for overseeing program assessment data, we will take a great step forward in realizing the reform envisioned by GPRA and make the federal government more efficient and results-oriented," Platts said.

Subcommittee Ranking Member Edolphus Towns of New York, however, said he is "extremely skeptical that this legislation is going to have any effect." Towns said attempts at performance-based budgeting over the past 10 years have had only a minimal positive impact on government performance.

According to the subcommittee, the legislation:

Requires the director of the Office of Management and Budget to review each program activity at least once every five fiscal years.
Calls for the OMB director, in conducting a review of a program activity, to coordinate with the relevant agency and to evaluate each program activity's purpose, design, strategic plan, management, results, and any other appropriate matters.
Orders the OMB director to develop criteria for deciding which programs to review each fiscal year, taking into account the advantages of reviewing program activities with similar functions or purposes during the same fiscal year.
Requires OMB to submit the results of the reviews for a fiscal year to Congress along with the president's next budget following the end of the fiscal year in which the reviews were conducted.

Platts offered a substitute amendment, spelling out more specific criteria to be used in evaluating programs. The amendment also would increase the level of coordination between OMB and the agency being examined. Finally, the provision would set a termination date for these assessments of September 30, 2013, after two of the 5-year assessment cycles have been completed. The panel accepted Platt's substitute by voice vote.

Towns offered an amendment requiring OMB to provide public notice at the start of each new fiscal year of which program to be assessed that year. After receiving public comments on the programs, OMB would have to publish performance goals, assessment criteria, and a summary of public comments for each program it plans to assess that year. The subcommittee approved Towns' amendment by voice vote.

]]>

Panel passes bill to increase benefits and hiring incentives

Zach Patton — Wed, 19 May 2004 00:00:00 -0400

The Subcommittee on Civil Service and Agency Organization voted by voice vote to approve a substitute amendment to a bill (S. 129) that has already passed in the Senate.

Subcommittee Chairwoman Jo Ann Davis, R-Va., sponsored a companion bill (H.R. 1601) to the Senate legislation last year. By folding the Davis language into the Senate bill Tuesday, the subcommittee began the process of sending the bill to conference.

"Taken together, these provisions will give managers and employees alike more flexibility, and in general make the federal government an employer of choice," Davis said. "As S. 129 has already passed the Senate, my hope is to see this bill move quickly through the House on its way to final passage."

Davis' substitute amendment makes a number of changes to current federal workforce practices, such as:

Allowing agencies to more easily award bonuses to recruit and retain employees.
Permitting federal employees to receive compensatory time off for travel time during non-business hours.
Providing enhanced vacation benefits to employees who join the federal government in mid-career.
Granting part-time workers partial credit toward retirement.
Allowing annuities for federal retirees to begin the day after retirement, instead of a month later.

The subcommittee also accepted an amendment from the subcommittee's top Democrat, Rep. Danny Davis of Illinois, that reinserted two provisions of the Senate bill that were omitted in Subcommittee Chairman Davis' amendment. Danny Davis' amendment restored a provision to prohibit recruitment, relocation and retention bonuses from being paid to political appointees.

"There is no evidence the federal government is having a difficult time in recruiting and retaining political appointees," he noted.

The second provision reinserted would require the Office of Personnel Management to report on the number of bonuses paid under the bill. Davis said that measure "would allow Congress to evaluate whether these bonuses are effective in improving the recruitment and retention of high-quality employees."

]]>

Postal unions raise concerns about Senate reform bill

Zach Patton — Tue, 18 May 2004 00:00:00 -0400

A discussion draft of the Senate measure, circulated last week, suggests that the House and Senate bills will be largely similar.

But a few aspects of the discussion draft have some postal labor representatives up in arms. A Senate committee spokeswoman said Monday she does not anticipate any major changes from the draft when senators formally introduce the bill this week.

That draft includes a provision that could reduce compensation for postal employees injured on the job.

Such a change would be "totally unacceptable," said American Postal Workers Union President William Burrus.

"We will not have postal employees treated differently from all other federal workers, including members of Congress and their staffs," Burrus said, adding that he will work vigorously to oppose a workers compensation change.

"Our voices will be heard on that question," he said.

The Senate draft would also make it easier to allow the Postal Service to provide discounts to large mailers that better prepare their products for mailing. For example, a publisher that bundles magazines according to geography, relieving postal employees of that task, could be given a lower rate.

The House bill would prohibit any worksharing discounts that exceed the money saved by the Postal Service, but the Senate version includes no such prohibition.

Unlimited worksharing discounts amount to "subsidies for big commercial mailers at the expense of smaller mailers," said former Rep. William Clay, D-Mo., president of the Consumer Alliance for the Postal Service president. "I'm hoping the House's position on that will prevail. That's the only thing for all mailers," Clay said.

Meanwhile, some mailers are praising the Senate bill, saying it would give the Postal Service greater flexibility to manage its costs.

"The most important difference between these two bills is that [in the Senate bill] cost-control issues are dealt with in a more direct fashion than in the House," said Rafe Morrissey, a lobbyist for the Greeting Card Association.

Morrissey also called the worksharing discounts allowed by the Senate draft "a plus," and he suggested that the administration might be more likely to support the more ambitious Senate bill.

Other industry sources have also said Bush probably would be more willing to sign a more extensive overhaul bill.

Gene Del Polito, president of the Association for Postal Commerce, said two issues common to both bills -- transferring payment of military retirement benefits back to the Treasury and abolishing an escrow account for the Postal Service -- would only be agreed to by the administration if the final bill includes enough other changes.

"The telling issue is going to be, is the White House convinced there is enough reform to swallow hard and accept [those two issues]?" Del Polito said.

]]>

Officials pledge to make headway against airport delays

Zach Patton — Tue, 18 May 2004 00:00:00 -0400

Delays at the busiest airports averaged 45-65 minutes last summer, and traffic is expected to increase at those facilities this year. Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Trent Lott, R-Miss., called the delays "ridiculous" and said Congress and the FAA should work to head off the problems. "It's coming; let's do something about it," Lott said.

Ken Mead, Transportation Department inspector general, said the FAA needs to complete and publish its revised capacity benchmark reports, which detail the maximum number of flights that can be handled per hour at each airport. He said those benchmarks should be released "as soon as possible, preferably before the end of May 2004." Mead said those reports should then be compared with projected traffic increases. "If they're materially out of kilter, then we need to sit down and talk about it," he said. Mead also said the Transportation and Homeland Security departments should work together to develop more comprehensive data on delays and passenger wait-time.

FAA Administrator Marion Blakey said efforts have been made to transform the agency into a "businesslike, bottom line-focused model." She said she met with Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta in March to develop "express lanes in the sky" to speed planes' departures from airports.

Blakey also said the FAA is initiating a system to spread delays throughout the system to avoid bottlenecks this summer at the busiest airports. Blakey said she has made administrative changes focused on long-term planning, including the development of a rolling 10-year plan to increase air traffic by 30 percent without increasing delays. FAA has created a Joint Planning and Development Office, with members from NASA, the White House Office of Science and Technology, and the departments of Transportation, Defense, Homeland Security and Commerce to develop a plan for aviation between now and 2025. The office will produce its first report in December.

]]>

Postal Service overhaul clears first hurdle

Zach Patton — Thu, 13 May 2004 00:00:00 -0400

In a 40-0 vote, the panel approved the bill (H.R. 4341), which would grant the Postal Service more flexibility to change its rates and manage its costs, while increasing the power of the postal regulatory board.

House Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., praised the bipartisan cooperation on the bill between himself and Government Reform Ranking Member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., as well as Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., and Rep. Danny Davis, who served, respectively, as chairman and ranking member of the committee's special panel on postal reform.

Davis said the bill would streamline the agency's rate-setting process, which currently can take as long as 18 months. The bill also would allow the Postal Service to compete directly with the private sector on services such as Express Mail and Priority Mail. The legislation also enhances the role of the regulatory body that oversees postal activity.

The bill would also limit the agency's monopoly power by requiring it only to engage in "postal services," which are statutorily defined for the first time.

McHugh, who has worked to pass postal overhaul legislation for the past 10 years, called the bill "an excellent first step." He added: "Work will continue as we refine the bill for floor consideration in the coming weeks. This reform is a long time in coming, and I'm thrilled that we can now see the light at the end of the tunnel."

Davis said he hopes to bring the bill to a floor vote by mid to late June, and he has the assurances of House leaders that the bill will be brought to a vote.

Two committee members offered and withdrew amendments to the bill.

Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio, offered two amendments. His first would have explicitly prohibited the Postal Service from competing with private companies that offer packing and package preparation services. The Postal Service has never offered that service, but LaTourette said the agency "toyed with the idea" in the mid-1990s.

LaTourette's second amendment would have limited the Postal Service's ability to contract international mail delivery with foreign air carriers. The amendment would require the Postal Service to use American carriers whenever available. After assurances from Davis and Waxman that they would work with LaTourette as this bill goes to the floor, LaTourette withdrew his amendments.

An amendment from Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., would have required the Postal Service to expunge any revenue deficiency it suffered by offering discounted rates to groups that do not qualify as nonprofit organizations. After Davis and Waxman promised to consider Murphy's provision, he also withdrew his amendment.

Meanwhile, Senate Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Collins and Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., Wednesday began distributing a draft version of their postal restructuring bill, which Collins said she will introduce next week.

That Senate draft would allow the Postal Service to more easily enter into worksharing contracts with private companies, and it requires the agency to develop a plan for future operations, including a consideration of how closing or consolidating mail facilities might affect postal revenues.

Labor groups Wednesday praised the House bill, particularly its prohibition of most worksharing agreements between the Postal Service and private companies.

However, American Postal Workers Union President William Burrus said he is concerned about the Senate draft, which he said includes proposals that "could result in the closing of post offices, reduced hours of operation, longer lines and poor service."

Burrus also said the Senate version could allow the Postal Service to negotiate service agreements with large commercial mailers, which he said would hurt postal customers and workers.

]]>

Paperwork reduction plan progresses

Zach Patton — Thu, 13 May 2004 00:00:00 -0400

The committee approved the measure (H.R. 2432) by voice vote over the objections of minority committee members who characterized it as little more than window dressing.

Specifically, the bill would direct OMB to look for ways to reduce paperwork associated with the Internal Revenue Service, which accounts for 83 percent of federal regulatory paperwork for the public.

Acknowledging the complexity of the bill, Chairman Tom Davis of Virginia said, "This is not always the sexiest stuff." But, he added, "It's critically important as a 'good governance' issue." Davis said complicated regulatory and tax paperwork can stymie the economy, forcing business owners to devote time to filling out federal forms instead of running their businesses.

But the committee's top Democrat, Rep. Henry Waxman of California called the bill "all PR and no substance. It's a public relations strategy to make the public think the Republicans have a plan to strengthen the economy. This bill is a great prop ... but that's all it is," Waxman said. He added that he believes the Bush administration is not serious about reducing paperwork, noting that the public spent 700 million more hours filling out federal paperwork in 2003 than in the last year of the Clinton administration.

The bill would make permanent the authorization for the General Accounting Office to analyze major rules proposed by federal agencies. In the 2000 Truth in Regulating Act, Congress authorized a three-year pilot program for that authorization, but GAO never staffed the project.

The legislation would also require OMB to integrate its regulatory accounting reports with its annual budget report, so lawmakers could compare the on-budget and off-budget costs associated with each agency requiring paperwork by the public.

Rep. Doug Ose, R-Calif., Energy Policy, Natural Resources and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee chairman and the bill's sponsor, offered a managers amendment that more clearly specifies how OMB would review the IRS paperwork burden. It would also would require OMB to designate three or more agencies to participate in a study on regulatory budgeting for fiscal years 2006 and 2007. The amendment passed on voice vote after the committee defeated all the Democrat amendments to Ose's manager's amendent.

The Democrat amendments included ones offered by:

Waxman that would establish a commission of scientific experts to investigate "the politicization of science" by the Bush administration. Waxman said the committee should be more focused on this type of regulation reform than reducing paperwork "to favor big industries." Ose said he thought Waxman's amendment was not germane to the bill and "a little bit over the edge," and Davis charged Waxman with setting up a "taxpayer-funded investigation of Bush administration regulatory policy." The amendment failed on a 12-21 roll call vote.
Waxman that would have included the fiscal 2003 estimates for paperwork burdens. The underlying bill references the fiscal 2002 levels. Ose said the bill already recognizes the increasing amount of federal paperwork, and including 2003 estimates would be unnecessary. The provision failed 16-22. Another Waxman amendment would have included language discrediting the paperwork burden study on which most current regulatory decisions are based. Ose said the study is "currently the best study we have" and that Waxman's amendment would do nothing to reduce regulatory burdens on the public. That measure failed 18-23.
Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass, which would make public all communication between a federal agency and OMB during the rulemaking process. "The amendment would let some sunshine in on OMB's role in the rulemaking process," he said. Ose said requiring "every single OMB communication to be meticulously reviewed by this body is unreasonable," and added that the amendment "raises serious separation-of-power questions." Tierney's amendment failed 14-21.
Tierney, that would have struck from the bill the language requiring an OMB study on federal regulatory budgeting. Tierney said the bill does not clearly define what "regulatory budgeting" is, and he called that provision of the bill "ambiguous and misguided." That amendment failed 13-23.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, that would maintain the Truth in Regulating Act, which Ose's underlying bill would make permanent, as a pilot program. The amendment failed on a voice vote.

]]>

Senate panel to give diploma mills the third degree

Zach Patton — Mon, 10 May 2004 00:00:00 -0400

The General Accounting Office investigation, requested last July by Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, and House Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., will look at employees who have received promotions based on fake degrees, and whether public money was used to purchase the credentials.

Witnesses at this week's hearings include representatives from GAO, the Education Department and the Office of Personnel Management, as well as a former employee of Columbia State University, a phony degree-granting institution shut down by federal agents in 1998. Also testifying this week is Alan Contreras, the administrator for the Oregon Office of Degree Authorization, who maintains one of the few lists of diploma mills worldwide.

"It is by no means a complete list," Contreras said of his database of over 200 bogus degree suppliers. Some of these universities are located in the Caribbean, Africa and South Asia, although the "institutions" frequently are little more than a mailbox. "But some of them don't exist anywhere," Contreras said. "It's always been a problem, but the advent of the Internet allows for much easier marketing, and it makes it easier for these institutions to look authentic, with photos and testimonials on their Web pages," he said. The Internet also grants pseudo-authority to diploma mills because institutions need not meet any standards to obtain and ".edu" Web address. "There's never been any attempt to screen that, [even though] that's pretty easy to do," he said.

In anticipation of the report, OPM already is making changes to its application forms, and the Education Department has begun compiling a searchable list of accredited institutions.

Contreras said the agencies will face two main problems -- dealing with the small number of unaccredited schools that are academically legitimate, and handling diplomas from schools abroad. Many diploma mills masquerade as foreign schools, but they frequently are merely bogus institutions run from the United States, Contreras said.

At the request of Collins and Davis, the GAO investigation was expanded in January to include Pentagon employees. The report also examined the departments of Homeland Security, HHS, Energy, Transportation, Education and Veterans Affairs, along with OPM and the Small Business Administration.

Collins ordered an initial GAO investigation on obtaining diploma mill degrees in 2001. In that process, GAO obtained two diplomas in Collins' name: a bachelor's degree in biology and master's in medical technology.

]]>

Draft postal overhaul bill draws criticism from mailers

Zach Patton — Tue, 04 May 2004 00:00:00 -0400

The 126-page draft, which Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., will introduce sometime before Thursday's markup, includes many provisions recommended by the President's Commission on the Postal Service last July, including mandated transparency regarding the agency's finances, costs and operations.

Like the commission's recommendations, the bill would restructure the agency's rate-setting process, establishing an inflationary rate increase cap and creating a strong regulator to monitor rates. But the bill would not give the Postal Service nearly the level of rate-setting freedom recommended by the commission, instead imposing price controls on competitive postal products. The bill would return to the Treasury the military service costs for postal retirees who served in the armed forces, but it is mostly silent on the kinds of workforce issues Senate Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, has said she will include in her bill later this month.

A Davis spokesman said he hopes the legislation will maintain the broad support expressed so far for postal change.

"Chairman Davis is determined to keep together the coalition that has formed in support of postal reform," the spokesman said. "We believe we have narrowed the universe of unresolved items to a very small few, and are hopeful that we will have bipartisan support when we mark up this legislation in committee on Thursday," he said.

Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, told reporters today that, although he had not yet seen the draft, he will schedule floor time for the bill if the committee approves it.

"I see no reason why we can't bring it to the floor," DeLay said.

A minority source on the committee praised the "cooperative process" of drafting the bill, but she said the legislation still leaves some large issues unresolved, including the fate of a mandated escrow account for the agency.

Some in the mailing industry, however, believe the committee is so eager to maintain coalition support that it has produced a fatally weak bill.

"This is a horrible, horrible disappointment," said Association for Postal Commerce President Gene Del Polito, who represents large commercial mailers such as Time, Capital One and RR Donnelly. "We have made clear there are two things that have to be done to reform the Postal Service: Give them new methods for cost determination and give them the authority to withdraw excess costs and needless services, such as facility consolidation," he said. "There are no such provisions in the draft at all."

Del Polito said one provision in the draft to restrict worksharing agreements would actually drive up postal costs, although it is favored by postal worker unions and postal competitors.

"I see a lot of compromises built in to assuage the concerns of competitors or unions, but I haven't seen anything to suggest the postal service is going to be any better off under this bill," he said.

]]>

Postal Service offers overhaul bill wish list

Zach Patton — Fri, 23 Apr 2004 00:00:00 -0400

At the request of the House Government Reform and the Senate Governmental Affairs committees, the Postal Service submitted 29 proposed amendments to postal bills the committees approved in previous years. These include amendments increasing the agency's rate-setting flexibility, opening new employees' health and retirement benefits to collective bargaining, and streamlining the process for closing or consolidating low-performing post offices and mail handling facilities.

Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Government Reform Committee's special postal panel, said this week he wished the Postal Service had submitted them earlier.

"I don't want to rule it out of hand, but it's a late entry, to say the least," McHugh said, adding that he had not yet seen the amendments. "It won't get the kind of attention it would have had we received it 18 months ago, rather than 18 hours ago," he said.

Postmaster General Jack Potter said the amendments are consistent with his comments to Congress during the past two years, and lawmakers should not be surprised by any of the proposals.

"This just gives them language to work with that we think is necessary for the Postal Service to be successful," said Ralph Moden, Postal Service senior vice president for governmental affairs. "There's nothing in the package that should be new for them."

The list does not include two issues the Postal Service has said are essential -- transferring military retirement payments back to the Treasury Department and abolishing an escrow account the Postal Service is scheduled to begin paying into in 2006. The agency submitted language for those provisions in February so CBO could score them.

Potter reiterated this week that any postal legislation must resolve those two issues.

]]>

Postal overhaul bill unlikely to move this year, key aides say

Zach Patton — Thu, 22 Apr 2004 00:00:00 -0400

Addressing a meeting of the Direct Marketing Association, which strongly supports overhaul, Brian Gaston, chief of staff for House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Cory Alexander, chief of staff for Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., both agreed Republican leadership is likely to spend the remainder of the congressional session on tax cut permanence, business litigation reforms, job creation bills and the budget -- not postal change.

In a session truncated by elections, Gaston said, "not much else is likely to be on the agenda. What we really needed to get done, we did last year."

Gaston said postal legislation, which Government Reform Chairman Davis plans to introduce next week, is coming too late to pass in this Congress. "If we were going to do it, we should have started the process last year," Gaston said.

Alexander said House Republican leadership has not given the issue the attention it would need to pass. "We don't even need to talk about the details [of proposed legislation], because this hasn't been made a priority," he said. "It's not a must-do, major, national political issue."

But the chairman of the House Government Reform Committee's special postal panel, Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., said he and Davis are committed to passing a bill this year.

Speaking to the same DMA meeting earlier Wednesday, McHugh said Davis is "doing everything he can" to pass legislation this session.

McHugh also said he does not think a successful bill could include major changes in postal workforce policies.

Many overhaul advocates are pushing for sweeping labor changes, including outsourcing certain postal human-resources jobs or opening worker health benefits to collective bargaining. But McHugh said labor unions' clout among lawmakers would stymie any major workforce changes.

"Given the party dynamics of both houses, you can't pass anything the unions object to," McHugh said. "If this bill is to be passed, broad-based changes to the employee workroom situation can't be included."

But McHugh said two other controversial issues -- ending the Postal Service's mandatory escrow account and restoring the responsibility for military retirement benefits to the Treasury Department -- are essential elements in a bill.

He said he has been "frustrated" by the Bush administration's opposition to those provisions, but he and Davis are "bound and determined" to include them as they draft a bill.

DMA president Robert Wientzen, however, said Wednesday he was not optimistic lawmakers could agree on those two issues.

]]>

Senate panel OKs rail, maritime security bills

Zach Patton — Thu, 08 Apr 2004 00:00:00 -0400

The committee reported out two measures that would add $2 billion over five years for each effort. The rail security legislation requires the Homeland Security and Transportation departments to conduct a vulnerability study on security efforts, and would authorize $100 million over the next two years for research and development.

The bill also would set up a $350 million grant program for infrastructure improvements nationwide, and it would authorize $670 million over five years for tunnel security improvements in New York, Baltimore and Washington. It also incorporates a whistleblower protection provision for rail workers who disclose security-related problems.

The maritime security bill approved Thursday would devote $400 million annually over five years to raise security efforts at the nation's ports, including increased tracking of intermodal cargo, increased research on blast-resistant vessels, and infrastructure improvement. Originally, the legislation directed the Homeland Security Department to enact a user fee to fund the increased security spending.

However, the committee approved an amendment by Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., striking the user fee language from the bill. Lott said these security efforts should be funded through customs fees paid by port users.

"The money is there," Lott said. "It should be used to pay for these improvements, instead of being used by everybody for all sorts of things," including energy bill provisions and welfare funding, Lott said.

But Commerce ranking member Ernest (Fritz) Hollings, D-S.C., said Lott's amendment in essence turns the bill into an unfunded mandate, because there is no language in it preventing customs fees from being used for non-germane projects.

]]>

Aggressive timetable set for postal overhaul legislation

Zach Patton — Wed, 07 Apr 2004 00:00:00 -0400

A committee aide said Collins hoped to mark up the bill in May.

Testifying today at the Governmental Affairs Committee's eighth and final hearing on postal overhaul, postal regulators told lawmakers that increased rate-setting flexibility must be balanced with greater transparency regulations in any legislation for the Postal Service.

In the past decade, the Postal Service has not been adequately transparent in its rate-setting process, said Postal Rate Commission Chairman George Omas, who added that the agency had fought requests by GAO and other groups for information regarding rate setting, adding to an overall "culture of resistance." Omas also said, "I do not think that private-sector confidentiality concerns should apply to a government-owned entity like the Postal Service."

The current rate-setting process can take up to 18 months, and numerous witnesses have said that an expedited process is a key aspect of a more successful, more businesslike Postal Service. To that end, Omas advocated elimination of the "adversarial, trial-type rate-setting hearings" that currently delay implementation of new rates.

But Omas said he disagreed with a recommendation from a presidential postal commission shifting to an after-the-fact review of rate changes. Omas said he believed a prior administrative review could be accomplished in as little as 90 days, but that such a review was necessary to avoid cumbersome retroactive rate changes.

Postal Service Board of Governors Chairman David Fineman disagreed with Omas, saying postal management should be given the flexibility to change rates within a congressionally set cap. Fineman said Congress was essentially striking a deal with management on rate-setting, requiring greater transparency but allowing greater flexibility. Moving to a post-review of rate changes is essential to that increased flexibility, he said.

The committee also discussed potential changes to the structure of the postal regulatory agencies. The president's commission advocated a smaller board of governors with shorter terms. There are now nine commissioners serving nine-year terms.

The commission also recommended changes to the appointment process that would remove the Senate approval process of board nominees. Carper said that "most, if not all, members of the board of governors" should be confirmed by the Senate and added that any changes to that process would weaken congressional oversight. Fineman said the recommended three-year term of service was too short, and he agreed with Carper that the commission's recommended changes could result in a partisan board.

The committee also debated proposed qualifications for board nominees, including requisite experience on the board of a large company, a background in statistics or accounting, and a 70-year age maximum limit.

]]>

Lawmakers begin drafting postal overhaul legislation

Zach Patton — Tue, 30 Mar 2004 00:00:00 -0500

Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, will introduce legislation with Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., at the end of April, a Senate source said Monday.

Rather than introducing companion legislation in the House, House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., plans to introduce his own bill with Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., a long-term advocate of postal change and chair of the House committee's postal panel.

Although each body will introduce its own legislation, sources predict a smooth conference process with little disagreement. A McHugh aide said last week she expects "nothing earth-shattering or lengthy or difficult" when the bill goes to conference.

Another House source said Monday he expected the House and Senate committees to mark up and report bills in time for a conference "by early summer."

As lawmakers continue putting these bills together, the most hotly debated topics probably will be workforce issues, such as reducing the size of the postal workforce and opening employee health benefits to collective bargaining. Collins also has said she intends to change the postal worker compensation system.

Other potentially contentious issues include scaling back the number of mail distribution centers and determining the Postal Service's ability to compete with private-sector mailers.

Ironically, the two biggest potential fights involve issues on which all postal overhaul players in Congress agree -- shifting the payment of military retirement benefits for civil service workers back to the Treasury and releasing $3 billion, currently in escrow, to the Postal Service.

]]>

Treasury secretary: Postal Service should pay military retirees

Zach Patton — Wed, 24 Mar 2004 00:00:00 -0500

In a joint hearing of the House Government Reform and Senate Governmental Affairs committees, Snow said postal overhaul is "overdue -- and critically important."

But he said the Postal Service should pay for the military retirement benefits of its employees.

"The administration opposes any effort to shift the estimated $27 billion of military costs back to the taxpayer," Snow said, calling the retirement payment, which was shifted to the Postal Service last year, "a fair and equitable allocation of costs."

Although Snow did not say the administration would necessarily veto a bill that included the military pension shift, his opposition could create a sticking point between Congress and the White House as lawmakers craft a postal bill over the next several weeks.

Several key lawmakers active on postal change -- including Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., and Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., who chairs the House Reform special panel on postal overhaul -- have said transferring the military payment back to the Treasury is an integral part of any legislation.

If the Postal Service is required to fund those payments, they say, it will be forced to raise rates sooner, exactly what overhaul legislation aims to prevent.

Collins said Tuesday returning the military retirement responsibility to the Treasury is one of "two issues that have united every witness that's appeared before the committee" in seven postal hearings.

The other issue is releasing $3 billion currently in escrow back to the Postal Service. Snow said the administration supports that effort "in principle," but only if abolishing the escrow has no effect on the deficit. For accounting purposes, Snow said, if that money were released, it would appear as a deficit, which the administration opposes.

"The administration's a pretty lonely voice on those two issues," Collins said.

Davis said he would work with the administration to reach an agreement on the escrow account. However, he said, "It seems much simpler, cleaner and more honest to just release the money and call it what it is -- the Postal Service's money."

]]>

Senators call for rail security enhancements

Michael Posner and Zach Patton — Tue, 23 Mar 2004 00:00:00 -0500

At a Senate Commerce hearing to examine rail security in the wake of the train bombings in Spain earlier this month, public transportation representatives said President Bush's fiscal 2005 budget request is inadequate to address necessary improvements in rail security. American Public Transportation Association President William Millar said the nation's public transit systems need $6 billion to address critical security improvements such as better radio communications, on-board security cameras, restricted access to transit facilities, and more and better trained security personnel. Millar said the fiscal 2005 budget should be amended to include a line item increasing direct funding for transit security measures.

GAO physical infrastructure director Peter Guerrero identified funding for security enhancements as "the key challenge" facing local and national rail transit agencies. Guerrero also said the Homeland Security Department must clarify the roles of the Transportation Department and the Transportation Security Administration on rail security. Those agencies' roles "have yet to be clearly delineated, which creates the potential for duplicating or conflicting efforts," Guerrero said.

Administration officials testified that the federal government has made great strides in rail security and is continuing to make improvements. Homeland Security Undersecretary for Border and Transportation Security Asa Hutchinson said his agency is developing new security initiatives, such as a rapid deployment K-9 explosives detection program. Hutchinson also said his department will implement a pilot baggage screening program to assess the feasibility of a nationwide system. He said the Homeland Security Department is developing a national transportation security plan, which "hopefully will be completed by the end of the year."

But Commerce Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., said that timetable was not adequate. "We need that plan as quickly as possible to determine appropriate funding levels to include in legislation," McCain said.

"Rail security efforts remain fragmented," said McCain, who added that "only modest resources have been dedicated to maritime and land security over the past two-and-a- half years compared to the investments made to secure the airways." McCain said he will work to draft and mark up a bipartisan rail security bill before the Senate's Easter recess.

At a separate hearing Tuesday, Senate Appropriations ranking member Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., said Homeland Security Secretary Ridge's newly announced rail security plan fails to make passengers any safer.

"Secretary Ridge's statement yesterday that we will use existing resources to do more long-term research on technological solutions, share information and distribute information on best practices, just does not make the grade with me," Byrd told acting TSA Administrator David Stone and Coast Guard Commandant Thomas Collins at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing. Stone replied that the government was "devoting significant attention and resources on rail security." It took the Madrid train bombing, Byrd said, "for the administration to wake up to this threat."

]]>

Obscure rule aids Democrats in getting information from agencies

Zach Patton — Fri, 19 Mar 2004 00:00:00 -0500

Since President Bush took office, however, Waxman increasingly has employed another tool in his arsenal -- the "seven member rule."

An obscure provision of a 1928 law, the rule states that if any seven members of the House Government Reform Committee -- or its predecessor, the Government Operations Committee -- collectively request information from an agency under the committee's oversight, the agency must turn the information over. In 70 years, the provision had been applied only sporadically, but Waxman has invoked the rule six times since 1998 -- three times in the past year alone.

Waxman said he sees the rule as more of a last resort.

"We've written letters and gotten no response," he said. "[Minority members] have no subpoena powers. The Republicans who run this committee aren't going to subpoena. The only tool we have left is the 'seven member rule.'"

Most recently, Waxman used the provision to demand information regarding the administration's cost estimates for the recently passed Medicare bill, which may have understated the cost of the bill's benefits by as much as $139 billion. So far, the administration has ignored Waxman's March 15 deadline for providing the information. Waxman sent another letter this week, extending the deadline to March 26.

Waxman also invoked the rule in January to obtain communications between the administration and energy lobbyists during negotiations on the energy bill last fall. And last June, he used the provision to seek information on how the Homeland Security Department tracked Democratic state legislators in Texas who fled the state during the debate on congressional redistricting.

In May 2001, Waxman used the rule to obtain adjusted Census figures that he believed showed an original undercount of minority citizens. After the administration failed to release the numbers, Waxman sued the Commerce Department -- the first instance of the "seven member rule" being used in court. The administration challenged the rule, but the Commerce Department ultimately turned over the figures before an appellate judge ruled on the provision.

Unique to the House Government Reform panel, Waxman said the "seven member rule" aids his committee's role in overseeing the federal government.

"Because it's a committee for oversight, we've had it enshrined into law that the party in the minority can still get some information if seven members insist upon it."

So far, though, Waxman's use of the rule has yielded mixed results. Asked about the ultimate effectiveness of the provision, Waxman said, "We'll see." But he said as long as the administration continues to "stonewall" congressional requests for information, he will continue to invoke the rule. "We shouldn't have to resort to the 'seven member rule' to get information from them," he said.

]]>

Homeland Security urged to increase focus on railroads

Zach Patton — Tue, 16 Mar 2004 00:00:00 -0500

In a letter sent Friday to Ridge, Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Rep. Michael Castle, R-Del., pointed to what they called "disconcerting" discrepancies in transportation security funding and asked Ridge to explain what efforts the Homeland Security Department was planning to increase rail security. Ridge had not responded to the letter by presstime. Snowe and Castle noted that the fiscal 2004 budget allocated no funding to assist Amtrak or commuter rail services with passenger security efforts.

"For too long, the federal government has made air and port security top priorities, while funding for rail security has lagged far behind," Castle said.

Snowe and Castle in November directed GAO to produce a report on rail security measures in Europe and Japan. The agency was asked to examine foreign passenger and baggage screening technologies and the potential cost of incorporating those systems within Amtrak. A source familiar with the report request said the final report was expected in June. But a GAO analyst who handles homeland security studies said the agency had not yet begun any work on the foreign rail study and had nothing to report so far.

Senate Commerce ranking member Ernest (Fritz) Hollings, D-S.C., introduced legislation Friday that would authorize $500 million for the Homeland Security Department to study and improve rail security across the country. The Hollings bill also includes a provision -- originally included in legislation introduced last fall by Snowe -- directing Amtrak to conduct a passenger screening pilot program.

The Commerce Committee twice approved legislation similar to Hollings' current bill when Hollings served as committee chairman during the 107th Congress. A Hollings aide said today that Commerce Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., supported the legislation in the last session but had not yet weighed in on the bill proposed last week. The aide said the legislation was "essentially the same as what the committee reported out previously." A McCain aide did not respond to a request for a response. But the Hollings aide said the committee had not yet decided when or if it would take up Hollings' bill.

]]>

Senate panel continues review of postal overhaul recommendations

Zach Patton — Tue, 09 Mar 2004 00:00:00 -0500

Ann Moore, chairwoman of Time Inc., said Congress must put in place a rate cap system keyed to inflation to limit "out-of-control postal costs." Postal rates have outpaced inflation by more than 60 percent in the past two decades, Moore said, and Congress must set maximum rate increases. Within that rate cap structure, however, the Postal Service should be allowed to operate with minimal oversight in setting rates, said Moore. Time Inc. is the Postal Service's biggest customer, and Moore said the Postal Service must establish a predictable, stable rate increase system for consumers. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, said the lack of rate predictability affects not only postal consumers, but also other members of the publishing industry, including printers and "the paper mills back home in Maine," Collins' home state.

The committee also discussed other possible reforms, including changes to the structure and size of the postal workforce, giving the Postal Service greater flexibility to enter worksharing agreements with private companies, and establishing standards of service for every class of mail.

The Postal Service must also be able to adapt more quickly to changes in its consumer environment, said Mark Angelson, chief executive officer of RR Donnelly, the largest commercial printer in North America and one of the Postal Service's largest customers.

"It's inconceivable to me that adjustments in the Postal Service network are not ongoing," Angelson said.

The country has changed through shifts in population and technological advancements such as e-mail, he said, but the Postal Service's distribution network remains largely unchanged from when it was established in 1971.

"Facility locations, size, and transportation routes should all be changing constantly to keep up with demand, eliminate redundancy and overcapacity, and achieve productivity gains," Angelson said.

Tuesday's hearing was the fifth in a series of Governmental Affairs hearings to assess recommendations made in August 2003 by the Presidential Commission on the Postal Service.

One issue not addressed by that commission was environmental waste, which Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said was a glaring omission.

"It strikes me as odd that in all this conversation about the future, no one's really talking about the amount of paper that goes through the Postal Service," Durbin said. He suggested offering lower postal rates to magazines that use a certain amount of post-recycled waste, or penalizing those that do not with higher rates.

Collins plans this year to draft bipartisan reform legislation with Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., and she said today that passing a reform bill this year is "essential." The Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a sixth reform hearing Thursday, hearing testimony from the Postal Service's largest competitors, Federal Express and UPS.

]]>

House panel votes to strengthen SEC in fighting investor fraud

Zach Patton — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 00:00:00 -0500

The committee approved the Securities Fraud Deterrence and Investor Restitution Act (H.R. 2179) by a voice vote. But the bill did not include a contentious provision in the original legislation that would have limited state officials' abilities to act against brokerage firms that violate securities laws.

Critics had dubbed the provision -- sponsored by Financial Services Capital Markets Subcommittee Chairman Richard Baker, R-La.-- the "anti-Spitzer amendment" referring to New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, whose investigation of large Wall Street firms resulted in a $1.4 billion settlement and led to changes with nationwide implications. Debate over that provision stalled the bill last summer.

But at Wednesday's markup, the committee approved a manager's amendment from the full Committee Chairman Rep. Michael Oxley of Ohio, that removed the language.

The bill would enhance the SEC's ability to investigate and deter fraud by giving it greater access to financial records and grand jury testimony from potential violators. Additionally, the SEC would have greater power to subpoena investment firms and collect fines. Any civil funds obtained by the SEC could be used to repay the victims of investor fraud, under the bill.

The committee also approved by voice vote formalizing a working group that has been studying the controversial provision since Baker's legislation stalled last summer. The bill would require a study and a report from the group on increasing cooperation between the SEC and the states.

In addition, the committee accepted an amendment from the committee's top Democrat, Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, to make the states' participation in the study voluntary. Frank said he approves of the study and believes states will participate, "but Congress has no authority to order state regulators to participate."

Lawmakers on the committee also approved by voice vote several amendments reforming mutual fund regulations, limiting some fees on investors and giving investors easier access to information on particular stock brokers.

The committee voted by voice vote to prohibit firms from collecting marketing fees on funds that are closed to new investors, and to place the responsibility on mutual fund management companies and underwriters to inform the mutual fund board of directors of any business practices of those management companies and underwriters that are not in the best interests of the funds' investors.

And, the committee also approved the creation of a secure national online database of brokers, where investors could access brokers' records, including criminal convictions and consumer complaints.

]]>

OPM backs postal payment of workers' military retirement benefits

Zach Patton — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 00:00:00 -0500

Testifying before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, Office of Personnel Management Deputy Director Dan Blair said he disagrees with the commission's recommendation that the responsibility for funding Civil Service Retirement benefits for military service, which were shifted to the postal service last year, be returned to the Treasury Department.

Blair said directly funding military retirement benefits for postal workers offers the Postal Service the "direct benefit" of attracting and retaining veterans.

Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she is "not inclined to agree with the administration" on permanently establishing the military retirement benefits, estimated at $27 billion, as a Postal Service responsibility.

"Whoever bears that cost is going to be presented with a pretty hefty bill," Collins said.

In an interview Monday, Collins said she is "very reluctant" to consider a reform bill that fails to transfer the military retirement funding responsibility back to Treasury.

Blair said the administration supports many of the commission's recommendations, particularly the proposal to shift postal employees to a pay-for-performance system.

Postal union representatives rejected most of the commission's recommendations altogether.

National Association of Letter Carriers President Bill Young focused on the commission's proposed changes to the collective bargaining process, including strict timetables and a mandatory mediation-arbitration process.

"The system we have now is not perfect -- indeed, no system is perfect. But the parties have learned how to work together within the current framework, and the process has worked well for all concerned," Young said.

He added that any legitimate changes to the collective bargaining process must originate from postal labor or management, not from Congress or the White House.

National Rural Letter Carriers' Association president Dale Holton said the commission's recommendation that postal retirement and health benefits could be subject to collective bargaining is overly ambitious, and that the postal service is unprepared to manage those benefits, which currently are included in federal benefits programs.

The union representatives did agree with the plan to transfer military retirement funding back to Treasury.

Meanwhile, a new lobby group of 150 businesses and organizations sent letters Tuesday urging members of Congress to support extensive postal overhaul efforts. The Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service includes some of the postal service's largest customers.

]]>

Senate chair criticizes Bush's proposed first responder cuts

Zach Patton — Tue, 24 Feb 2004 00:00:00 -0500

In an interview with National Journal Group publications, Collins said homeland security will "remain a major focus for the committee," with a particular emphasis on restoring funding for emergency "first responders" to President Bush's proposed budget.

"The president's budget regrettably cuts a billion dollars from the basic Homeland Security grant program, leaving only $700 million," Collins said. "Ultimately, we may be able to cut back on the amount of money that is flowing to state and local government, but now is not the time."

Collins said the nation's first responders still lack proper training, equipment, and communications interoperability to deal with a future terrorist attack. Collins also said the administration's proposed budget cuts funding for security at the nation's seaports, which she characterized as the country's "greatest vulnerability."

Aside from security oversight, Collins said bipartisan postal change "is one of my top priorities for this year." The committee Tuesday was scheduled to hold its fifth hearing on the issue since the President's Commission on the Postal Service released recommendations in August 2003.

Collins said Monday that the most contentious aspect of the reform process continues to be workforce issues. Noting that nearly three-fourths of the postal budget is earmarked for personnel, Collins called for reducing the size of the postal workforce through natural attrition over the next 10 years.

She also said the postal workers compensation system must be reformed. In addition to the workforce issues, however, Collins said her efforts would also streamline the postal rate-setting process and deal with "a host of structural problems," such as an excessive number of mail handling facilities.

Collins said the current Congress must pass related legislation, which she plans to draft with Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del. "If we don't act now, when we have a detailed report on what should we done, we are never going to act," she said.

]]>