WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Tuesday, Representative Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) voted to improve mail delivery across Pennsylvania and strengthen the U.S. Postal Service with the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022. The bill passed the House by a wide bipartisan margin, 342-92.

“Pennsylvanians want their mail delivered on time—passing this bill was long overdue and a no-brainer,” said Houlahan. “My office receives calls on a regular basis from residents who tell us that their service is irregular and/or delayed. These delays hurt businesses and families alike, and the Postal Service Reform Act will help address those pressures and improve this vital public trust.”

Because of the extremely unusual requirement that the Post Office fund 75 years of retiree benefits in advance, this institution is on a path to insolvency, facing an urgent shortage of funding as its delivery obligations continue to grow. The Postal Service currently provides mail to nearly 159 million delivery points and adds an additional one million every year. Yet even as postal workers service more locations, revenue has continued to fall due to lower mail volume. 

The Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 enacts several overdue changes to address the U.S. Postal Service’s financial challenges, improve mail delivery, and support postal workers and retirees, including:

• Welcoming all future postal retirees into Medicare, delivering quality health care to our committed public servants while saving the Postal Service $22.6 billion over the next decade;
• Repealing a burdensome requirement forcing the Postal Service to prefund retirees’ health care 75 years in advance, saving $27 billion over the next decade;
• Promoting reliable delivery and transparency through a public-facing, online dashboard featuring national and local level service performance data;
• Codifying the Postal Service’s longtime tradition of delivering mail and packages six days per week; and
• Allowing the Postal Service to raise additional revenues by offering non-commercial property and services to state, local and tribal governments.

“The pandemic has reminded Pennsylvanians of the extent to which we rely on the Postal Service for timely deliveries – from prescription drugs to mail-in ballots and holiday gifts to paychecks and Social Security payments,” said Houlahan. “I have met with many of our dedicated postal workers here in our community, and I am proudly committed to providing them the necessary tools to get the job done for the American people. With this bipartisan vote, the House has taken a key step forward in bolstering mail service for families in Chester and Berks counties.”

Houlahan is an Air Force veteran, an engineer, a serial entrepreneur, an educator and a nonprofit leader. She represents Pennsylvania’s 6th Congressional District, which encompasses Chester County and southern Berks County. She serves on the House Armed Services Committee, the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Small Business Committee. She is the recipient of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Abraham Lincoln Leadership for America Award which “recognizes members who demonstrate the bipartisan leadership and constructive governing necessary to move our country forward.”

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