HOUSE RESOLUTION 144

House Resolution 144

(05/17/2001) House of Representatives H.Res.144 – Congressman Walter Jones (R, NC) has introduced H.Res.144 expressing that it is the sense of the House of Representatives that bonuses for managerial personnel of the United States Postal Service should not be awarded in any year in which the Postal Service anticipates that it will operate at a deficit or in which a general increase in postal rates has been requested, has gone into effect, or is likely to become effective.

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that bonuses for managerial personnel of the United States (Postal) Service should not be awarded in any year in which the (Postal) Service anticipates that it will operate at a deficit, or in which a general increase in (postal) rates has been requested, has gone into effect, or is likely to become effective.

Whereas, the United States (Postal) Service paid out $280,000,000 in bonuses to managerial personnel in fiscal year 2000; and

Whereas, the (Postal) Service suffered a loss of $199,000,000 in fiscal year 2000, and projects that it will have losses of $2,000,000,000 to $3,000,000,000 in fiscal year 2001; and

Whereas, the amount paid by the (Postal) Service in bonuses to managerial personnel in fiscal year 2000 represented only a fraction of the total bonus amounts that were in fact awarded to such personnel in that fiscal year, with the balance often to be paid out in subsequent years (including, in some cases, after retirement); and

Whereas, managerial personnel of the (Postal) Service may receive compensation up to the rate for level I of the Executive Schedule, which is greater than the rate of pay for a Federal judge and equal to the rate of pay for the head of an Executive department; and

Whereas, by receiving the balance of one's bonus after retirement, some (postal) managers are able to circumvent even that statutory limitation; and

Whereas, the Inspector General of the United States (Postal) Service has testified that (postal) bonus payments have increased from 16 percent of net income in fiscal year 1996 to 325 percent of net income in fiscal year 2000; and

Whereas, the justification for (postal) bonuses is increased productivity; and

Whereas, the Comptroller General of the United States has testified that the (Postal) Service has not demonstrated an ability to sustain even modest productivity gains; and

Whereas, (Postal) Service productivity has increased by only 11 percent over 30 years, and during the period from 1990 to 1998, actually decreased by 0.6 percent, while non-governmental productivity grew by 7 percent during that same period; and

Whereas, the (Postal) Service received an overall 4.6 percent (postal) rate increase effective January 7, 2001, and some (postal) categories were required to pay increases of as much as 15 percent; and

Whereas, on February 6, 2001, the (Postal) Service suggested that it will seek an additional 15 to 20 percent increase in (postal) rates, including an increase of as much as 30 percent in some (postal) categories; and

Whereas, the Inspector General of the United States (Postal) Service has testified that, at a time when the (Postal) Service is requesting further rate increases, it is projecting negative net income; now, therefore be it

Resolved, that it is the sense of the House of Representatives that bonuses for managerial personnel of the United States (Postal) Service should not be awarded in any year in which the (Postal) Service anticipates that it will operate at a deficit or in which a general increase in (postal) rates has been requested, has gone into effect, or is likely to become effective.