Providing for Consideration of H.R. 22, Postal Accountability and Enchancement Act
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 22, POSTAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND ENHANCEMENT ACT -- (House of Representatives - July 26, 2005)
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of this rule and underlying postal reform legislation. I commend the gentleman from Virginia (Chairman Davis) and the ranking member, the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman), along with the much heralded sponsor of this bill, the gentleman from New York (Mr. McHugh), for working in a bipartisan manner that has twice allowed this bill to be reported from committee by a unanimous vote.
Now, I have only been here 5 years, and like my colleague from Washington, DC, says, she feels like every year it is painstakingly making its way through the process. And even in the 5 years since I have been here, I know how important this bill is, and I am so pleased that we are at the point we are today.
I am pleased to be a cosponsor of H.R. 22 because of its importance to businesses, postal employees, and all of us who have mail delivered to our homes or our businesses. This legislation has provisions that will allow the Postal Service to operate more efficiently and would require that it focus primarily on its main focus, which is delivering the mail.
H.R. 22 helps enable mailers to partner with the Postal Service to reduce the cost of mailings, providing an efficiency to the Postal Service, and helping businesses to save money that can be invested in jobs and job growth.
The bill is a good idea for postal employees for a lot of different reasons, one of which is because it returns the responsibility for the military service portion of postal retiree benefits back to the government and corrects overpayments by the Postal Service to the Civil Service Retirement System.
In short, the bill provides the changes necessary to keep the Postal Service operating. It is so important to all of us every day. I mean, I know at certain times in my life I felt like if I did not see my friendly mailman or mailwoman at my door, I felt like I did not have a friend in the world. So let us keep the Postal Service operating without the hefty rate increases that would inevitably come with the status quo.
This bill means a great deal to very many people. After so many years of work, I congratulate all of those intimately involved. I urge my colleagues to join me in support of the rule and the underlying bill.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
http://thomas.loc.gov