Dejoy Act takes aim at slowed mail plan

A group of House Democrats on Friday introduced legislation to prohibit the Postal Service from lengthening mail-delivery windows and require it to adhere to present service expectations. They named the bill the Delivering Envelopes Judiciously On-time Year-round Act, or Dejoy Act.

One House aide involved in postal reform legislation introduced in February said some members of the caucus are leery of proceeding with efforts to address the Postal Service’s financial obligations given that Postmaster General Louis Dejoy’s 10year plan includes sharp reductions in service, including slower timetables for mail delivery and reduced post office hours.

Separately, Democratic Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro threatened to take legal action to block the service cuts.

Mounting concern among Democrats, who can afford few defections from their narrow House majority if they hope to pass postal reform, could throw off the postmaster general’s entire “Delivering for America” proposal.

Dejoy hopes to save the Postal Service $160 billion over the next decade through a combination of austerity measures, postage price increases and projected package volume growth. But the largest single piece of his plan is dependent on Congress repealing its pre-funding mandate for retiree health care costs, which runs about $5 billion a year.

Instead, the agency wants to wind down those payments and enroll future retirees in Medicare, a proposal worth $44 billion.

A bill introduced by Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, chair of the powerful House Oversight and Reform Committee, includes both components.