As part of its Senate testimony, the Governmane Accountability Office released a report on USPS proposals to pull employees and retirees out of FEHBP- here’s the summary:

Why GAO Did This Study

USPS continues to be in a serious financial crisis, with little liquidity in the short term and a challenging financial outlook in the long term as profitable First-Class Mail volume continues to decline. Critical decisions by Congress are needed on postal reform legislation that has been proposed in both the U.S. Senate and the House of epresentatives. Various proposals would restructure the financing of postal retiree health benefits, including required payments to prefund these benefits; enable USPS to introduce a new health plan for postal employees and retirees; and restructure the funding of postal pensions, including addressing a potential surplus in funding postal pensions under FERS. Read the rest of this entry »

Statement of Gene L. Dodaro Comptroller General United States Government Accountability Office

Committee on Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

February 13, 2013

Chairman Carper, Ranking Member Coburn, and Members of the Committee:

We appreciate the opportunity to be here today to discuss the status of the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) financial condition and actions needed to address USPS’s financial challenges. Read the rest of this entry »

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has produced a thorough and comprehensive review of the Postal Service proposal to move to a five day per week delivery schedule. We are pleased to see they agree that the Postal Service is likely to achieve significant cost savings if this change were to be effected and that much of its success depends on how efficiently it is implemented. We agree and believe that having completed a lengthy planning process; we are prepared to make that happen.

We are aware of the concerns certain stakeholders have expressed to GAO. We consulted extensively with our customers as we developed our operating plans. They can be assured that any decision to go to a five-day schedule will carefully balance our universal service responsibility and our statutory duty to operate in an efficient manner in light of prevailing volume, cost and revenue trends. Consideration of such matters will help ensure the financial stability of the Postal Service well into the future.