That bill is a good one. It wipes out $57 billion of the $206.4 billion in liabilities for the USPS. Over the next decade, the bill will save the agency $50 billion by finally freeing it from a 2006 law (sponsored by Maine Republican Susan Collins) that forced the agency to pre-fund the retiree health benefits for employees. Instead, retirees will need to sign up for Medicare. The bill also imposes transparency measures for the agency’s delivery performance, one of many of the problems for the agency created by Trump’s Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
Passing the bill could help clear the way for DeJoy’s ouster. He’s actually been a champion of the bill, and the committee leaders in the House and Senate, as well as postal union leadership, have been laying off criticism of him while working this bill through the process. That could account for some of the delays we’ve seen in getting President Joe Biden’s nominees onto the Postal Service Board of Governors, the only entity capable of firing DeJoy. The fight over DeJoy seems to have been back-burnered, and this could be why. There are still two Biden nominees for the board who have yet to have hearings in Sen. Gary Peter’s committee.
“I have worked hand in hand with the bipartisan leaders of my committee and the House Oversight and Reform Committee to craft this bipartisan bill that will help the Postal Service overcome unfair and burdensome financial requirements, provide more transparency and accountability to the American people, and continue its nearly 250-year tradition of service to every community in our nation,” Peters said after the House vote. Maybe now he’ll advance those nominees and the Board of Governors can do something about DeJoy. After the Senate passes this bill and Biden signs it.
The Senate is also going to consider one of the more controversial of Biden’s nominees—Robert Califf, President Biden’s nominee to lead the FDA. Schumer has filed cloture on the nomination, despite the opposition of a handful of diverse Democratic senators—Joe Manchin, Bernie Sanders, Ed Markey, Richard Blumenthal, and Maggie Hassan all oppose Califf because of his ties to the pharmaceutical industry. Califf won over a few Democrats, including Massachusetts’ Elizabeth Warren, by consenting to recuse himself from any FDA decisions linked to companies he’s been involved with for a full four years.
That’s going to be a tight vote, with five Democrats saying “no” and only four potential Republicans to support him. The continued absence of New Mexico Democrat Ben Ray Luján, who suffered a stroke two weeks ago, complicates. On that front, however, there’s very good news straight from the source. Sen. Luján released a video Sunday, flanked by his doctors, announcing he would be ready to come back within a couple of weeks.
“I’m doing well,” said Luján. “I’m strong. … I’m going to make a full recovery. I’m going to walk out. I’m going to beat this. I’m going to be stronger once I come out.” He continued “I’m proud to report that I’ll be back on the floor of the United States Senate in just a few short weeks to vote on important legislation and to consider a Supreme Court nominee.”
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