Today, White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) submitted to Congress the President’s Fiscal Year 2021 Budget Proposal. Although the likelihood of it being enacted is remote, the priorities outlined in it reflect the continued vulnerability of the Postal Service, as well as the fiscal exposure of postal and federal employees.
Among the President’s proposed postal “reforms” in the budget are: unspecified changes to delivery processing, frequency and mode; increased contracting out of postal operations; application of government-wide federal salaries to the postal employees; and permitting non-postal operators access to the home mail box. In sum, the White House projects 10-years savings to the federal budget of $91.4 billion from its postal plan.
Also, the President proposed budget hits against the postal and federal community. In part, the budget proposes to: increase employee retirement contributions to FERS approximately six-fold; eliminate the COLA for FERS retirees and to reduce the CSRS COLA by 0.5%; change the calculation of federal annuities from the High-3 to the High-5; reduce the earned interest in the Thrift Savings Plan G-Fund; and eliminate the Special Retirement Supplement for FERS annuitants who retire prior to reaching Social Security eligibility. The projected 10-years savings from these proposals total $179.5 billion.
NAPS is urging Congress to reject White House proposals that undermine the Postal Service or target the pay and benefits of its employees.
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