Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01), Peter DeFazio (OR-04), Tom Reed (NY-23), and Xochitl Torres Small (NM-02) introduced bipartisan legislation, the USPS Fairness Act, to end the pre-funding mandate for the United States Postal Service (USPS).
USPS is the only federal agency that is required to pre-fund decades’ worth of health benefits for its future retirees. Since 2007, this mandate is responsible for more than 90 percent of USPS’s financial losses and 100 percent of losses over the past six years.
“This law has put the Postal Service in a horrible financial position, which has prevented USPS from investing in services to benefit our community.” The proposed legislation, he said, “will allow the postal service to devote resources to critical services its employees deliver to our community.”
In other action, Fitzpatrick, a co-chair of the PFAS Task Force, joined Dan Kildee (MI-05), co-chairs , and Rep. Brendan Boyle (PA-02) to introduce the Protect Drinking Water from PFAS Act of 2019, H.R. 2377. The bill requires the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set an enforceable, nationwide primary drinking water standard for PFAS contaminants, including PFOS and PFOA which have plagued the Philadelphia region.
Currently, the EPA sets voluntary advisory guidelines, and postponed a long-anticipated determination of whether to set an enforceable standard.
The legislation is the product of discussions with federal officials in direct response to the ongoing water contamination issues experienced by communities surrounding the former Naval Air Warfare Center Warminster, former Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove, and Horsham Air Guard Station in Pennsylvania.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee plans to consider this and other related legislation to address FPAS contamination in the coming month.
