The Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 is a federal statute intended to address "the finances and operations of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS)",[1] specifically to lift budget requirements imposed on the Service by the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act[2] and require it to continue six day a week delivery of mail.[3]
Long title | An Act to provide stability to and enhance the services of the United States Postal Service, and for other purposes. |
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Enacted by | the 117th United States Congress |
Number of co-sponsors | 102 |
Citations | |
Public law | Pub. L. 117–108 (text) (PDF) |
Statutes at Large | 136 Stat. 1127 |
Codification | |
Titles amended | Title 39—Postal Service |
Legislative history | |
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The act was first introduced on May 11, 2021, by Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY).[1] The House of Representatives then passed the bill by 342–92 on February 8, 2022.[4] On March 8, 2022, the Senate voted 79–19 to pass the bill.[5] President Biden signed the bill into law on April 6, 2022.[6]
Similar bills to the Postal Service Reform Act have been proposed in recent years, but none passed.[7] The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA), passed in 2006, required the USPS to pre-fund benefits for future retirees, and this cost the agency about $5.5 billion annually.[8] The PAEA required the USPS to pre-fund these pensions more than fifty years in advance. This requirement caused the USPS to accumulate billions in debt annually in recent years.[9] The USPS Fairness Act would have allowed the USPS to still continue to pay benefits from the accumulated funding (about $56.8 billion in 2020) until depleted, but the intended purpose of the USPS Fairness Act was to remove the pre-funding requirements placed on the agency by the PAEA.[7][9] That bill passed in the House (309—106) in 2019[10] but died in the Senate.
The Postal Service Reform Act of 2022: