ABA Applauds Postal Reform Legislation

ABA and the Financial Services Roundtable wrote to leaders of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform today to express support for the Postal Service Reform Act of 2016, a bipartisan bill introduced by Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.). With so many financial service companies using the postal service to deliver customer communications, the associations expressed their commitment to identifying long-term, workable solutions to ensure an efficient, self-sustaining and affordable postal system.

The groups supported many of the provisions of the bill, including those that would help stabilize the Postal Service’s finances, and emphasized the importance of maintaining predictable, stable postal rates going forward. The groups also reiterated concerns about allowing the Postal Service to offer non-postal products, such as banking services, which they noted could lead to increased competitive pressures for private sector businesses.

However, they added that the bill strikes a reasonable balance by allowing the Postal Service to assist in providing limited government services on behalf of other federal agencies or state or local governments, which would not interfere with the private sector.