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The Free Community Paper Industry

Chairman Dennis Ross Ranking Member Stephen LynchSubcommittee on Federal Workforce, Subcommittee on Federal Workforce,

U.S. Postal Service & Labor Policy U.S. Postal Service & Labor Policy404 Cannon HOB 2348 Rayburn HOB Washington, D.C. 20515 Washington, D.C. 20515

June 20, 2011

RE: Support For HR 135 1The Postal Service Pension Obligation Recalculation and Restoration Act

Dear Chairman Ross and Ranking Member Lynch:

On behalf of the united Free Community Paper Industry, we write to express our strongsupport for HR 1351, the Postal Service Pension Obligation Recalculation and RestorationAct of 2011. Our hometown publishers rely on the USPS to deliver 28 million papers eachweek. We study Postal affairs with keen interest, and endorse these common sense measuresas essential to restoring the fiscal foundation of the Postal Service .

The USPS is constrained by a unique legal burden to pre-fund future retiree health benefits,artificially stripping $5.5 billion each year from their operational bottom line. The Postal

Service would actually be in the black if not for this onerous mandate, which even coversretiree health benefits of yet-to-be-hired workers and has no equivalent in e ither the federalsector or private enterprise.

At the same time, the USPS is actually owed somewhere between $50 billion and $75 billionfor historic pension overpayments. This massive treasure was funded exclusively by we postagerate-payers and contribut ions from postal employees.

HR 1351 provides a sensible solution to the pension overpayment and retiree health pre-funding burdens. And it does so without a single tax dollar. It compels a definitiverecalculation of the Postal Services Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) pension accountbalance. It then mandates any resulting surplus be transferred to the Postal Service Retiree

Health Benefits Fund (PSRHBF).

This legislation also anticipates that fairly calcu lating the true value of billions in postalpension overpayments, employing thorough, dynamic, state-of-the-art ac tuarial methods, willtake time. So it also provides short-term relief to the USPS in 2011 by allowing the agency touse an existing surplus in its Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) account to coverthe 2011 retiree health pre-funding payment. Again, this is its own money from postalreceipts and employee contributions.

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Without swift Congressional act ion on this just and sensible measure, the United StatesPostal Service -- along with it the communities it binds and the $1.3 trillion economy itfosters directly -- are suspended in serious jeopardy. Make no mistake, this cannot credibly bemislabeled a "bailout" since all funds are already there and not a dime came from taxes. Andat the end of the day, this targeted reconciliation is vital for the maximizing of successful

operational efficiencies already underway.

Our Industry relies on a solvent, efficient Postal Service. Our publishers who employ alternatedelivery methods enjoy and support the vibrant existence of this viable option. And from ourcollective vantage on Main Street, USA, we champion the critical role the Postal Serviceprovides our diverse communities, our cit izens, our merchant s and our neighbors from coast tocoast. The Postal Service Pension Obligation Recalculation and Restoration Act of 2011 isthe critical next structural step in helping the USPS pave its ultimate self-sustaining path.

Sincerely,

Association of Free Community PapersMid-Atlantic Community Papers Association

Midwest Free Community PapersFree Community Papers of New York

Community Papers of Ohio and West VirginiaCommunity Papers of Florida

Community Papers of MichiganSoutheastern Advert ising Publishers Association

Texas Community Newspaper Association

Wisconsin Community PapersSouthwestern Association of Community PublicationsPacific Northwest Association of Want Ad Newspapers

Jim Haigh, Government Relations Consultant

Association of Free Community Papers

427 Ridge Street, Emmaus, PA 18049 JimHaigh@Fast.Net

(o) 610.965.4032 (f) 610.965.5629 (c) 610.504.2010