Sponsors (18)
The bill protects periodical customers from immediate postage hikes and pushes for measurable delivery improvements and transparency, but those protections risk straining USPS finances, raising administrative and compliance costs, and creating incentives that could lead to misleading metrics or later rate increases.
Periodical subscribers (especially seniors and small-business customers) are protected from new postage rate increases until USPS demonstrates measurable delivery improvements (95% on-time or a 2-point improvement), reducing the risk of immediate higher subscription costs.
New measurable targets and regular public reporting (including in-county vs out-of-county performance and explanations when proxies are used) increase accountability and help stakeholders track and pressure USPS and the PRC to improve periodical delivery service.
An independent GAO study and report to Congress on postal pricing options provides evidence-based analysis that could inform long-term policy to strengthen USPS finances and help preserve mail service, particularly for rural communities.
USPS finances and operations could be strained if rate-raising is constrained, forcing service reductions, postponed investments, or workforce impacts that harm mail service reliability and postal jobs.
Newspaper and periodical publishers and mailers could face financial pressure from delayed rate adjustments plus potential compliance and data-preparation costs, risking reduced circulation, content cuts, or business stress for small publishers.
USPS may incur additional administrative and IT costs to collect, process, and report item- or bundle-level performance data, diverting resources from operations and imposing costs on taxpayers.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Limits PRC approval of new periodicals rate authority unless USPS meets specified on-time delivery tests, adds reporting on newspaper mail performance, and requires a GAO pricing study.
Introduced March 14, 2025 by Robert Aderholt · Last progress March 14, 2025
Bars the Postal Regulatory Commission from granting any new rate authority for periodicals unless the Postal Service meets specific on-time delivery tests: either 95% on-time delivery for periodicals in the relevant fiscal year or a 2 percentage-point improvement versus the best of the surrounding fiscal years, measured by the service standards in effect at enactment. It also requires annual public reporting on efforts to incorporate newspaper (in-county and out-of-county) on-time performance into periodical service measurements and directs the GAO to study alternative pricing options for underpriced USPS products and report to Congress within two years.