From the National Association of Postal Supervisors:
Capitol Hill lawmakers return to Washington today. The only certain major action they will take will involve approval of a spending measure that will extend government funding for the next six months at current levels. A one-year extension of current farm legislation will be added to the government funding bill, called a "continuing resolution," but no postal relief provisions are likely to be added, including postponement of the September 30 pre-funding payment or return to the Postal Service of $13 billion in FERS overfunding payments.
If there's any consolation in the apparent failure of the House of Representatives to let the Senate-passed postal measure die on the vine, it's that postal stakeholders shouldn't take it personally. House Republican leaders have demonstrated the same disregard for a host of other national concerns that require its attention. They have scheduled only eight days of legislative business between now and the November elections. Even during that time, there is little expected than pre-election posturing and votes intended to score political points.
The House will be in session for a five-day workweek this week, and several days next week. After that, lawmakers will be home for the Passover holiday week, and House and Senate leaders are unlikely to call their members back to Washington until after the November elections.
That will leave s huge must-do list for Congress when they return for a post election lame-duck session, between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That must-do list will include deciding whether to let the Bush-era tax cuts expire on December 31. The resulting tax increases, when combined with more than $100 billion in automatic across-the-board spending cuts set to take effect at the same time, could push the nation off the so-called "fiscal cliff." Economists warn that unless Congress acts, the consequences of simultaneous tax increases and huge budget cuts would send the fragile economy back into recession.
The automatic cuts are the result of the failure of last year’s deficit reduction “supercommittee” to strike a bargain to cut 10-year deficits by at least $1.2 trillion as required by last summer’s debt ceiling legislation.
Other pressing issues for the lame-duck session will include averting an almost 30 percent cut in physicians’ Medicare fees, the food and farm bill, passing the annual Pentagon policy bill and a Russia free trade bill. The weight of all this business could crowd out action on postal legislation during the lame duck session.
