Political Quotes

“Madam President, the Government Accountability Office has also looked at this issue and found that OPM's Actuary did assess that there was an overpayment--what GAO calls a surplus. There is one paragraph in the GAO letter that I particularly want to bring to my colleagues' attention because it is a call for action. The Comptroller General says: We have also reported that Congress and USPS urgently need to reach agreement on a comprehensive reform package to address the Postal Service's financial problems. Congress could consider a one-time return of some, or all, of the FERS surplus as part of a broader package tied to specific actions on the part of USPS to help it address its financial problems. These actions could include prefunding its retiree health benefit obligation, reducing its $13 billion debt, or developing incentives to reduce its workforce. Madam President, that is what our bill does. We are following the advice of the GAO to do this one-time refund of the overpayment and dedicate it specifically to the incentives to reduce its workforce and to reducing the debt the Postal Service owes to the Treasury. We also deal with the prefunding of the retiree health benefit issue in our bill as well. My point is that there is agreement that this is not taxpayers' money. There is agreement that this is a true overpayment.…”