February 9, 2022 3:00 a.m.

On Tuesday, Congressman Peter DeFazio voted in support of the Postal Service Reform Act, known as H.R.3076.

A release said the bill aims to overhaul the United States Postal Service and includes DeFazio’s USPS Fairness Act which is legislation he says that would save the USPS at least $5 billion annually.

DeFazio said, “The House has finally voted to bring the Postal Service into the 21st century”. He said, “for too long, the agency has been burdened with an absurd prefunding mandate, which requires the USPS to prefund 75 years’ worth of retiree healthcare benefits in just 10 years”.

The release said DeFazio’s legislation would repeal that mandate. He said it accounted for 100 percent of the agency’s losses from 2013 to 2018. No other government agency or private enterprise prefunds retiree health benefits on such an aggressive timeline, according to DeFazio.

The Postal Service Reform Act would also:

*Reform the Federal Employees Health Benefits program so that postal employees and retirees enroll directly in Medicare

*Strengthen six-day delivery requirements, which have been weakened under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy

*Require semi-annual reports to Congress on the implementation of the U.S. 10-year reform plan

*Provide a special postage discount for rural newspapers to support rural journalism

DeFazio’s remarks on the House floor can be watched: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-zlj0fqPsY