To provide for the transfer of the United States Postal Service surplus with respect to certain retirement benefits, and for other purposes.
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on oversightCongress's review of how the executive branch carries out the laws it passed: hearings, document demands, investigations, and the spending power behind them.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) and Government Reform.
Amends provisions of federal law relating to the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and its employees to: (1) require the transfer of any surplus government contributions to the Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS) in FY2012-FY2014 for postal employees to USPS for repayment of debt obligations and to make required payments to the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund and to the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund, and (2) authorize USPS to provide nonpostal services.
Expresses the sense of Congress that if USPS is permitted to offer its employees health benefits under a program separate from the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, the Postmaster General shall work with employee representatives in exclusive bargaining units to establish such a program.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on May 16, 2012. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on May 16, 2012: Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 112th Congress (2011-12), 283 of the 10,618 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
JOE BACA (D-CA) introduced it on May 16, 2012. No cosponsors are recorded.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on May 16, 2012, 5230 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 5230 days ago, on May 16, 2012.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 112th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2013 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers