Company Press Release

NAA President and CEO Sturm Testifies on Postal Bill; Supports Some Provisions But Opposes USPS Pricing Flexiblity

VIENNA, Va., March 4 /PRNewswire/ -- The Newspaper Association of America supports provisions in HR 22, The Postal Modernization Act of 1999, that focus on improving the U.S. Postal Service's core mission of providing universal mail delivery at non-discriminatory rates. The Association is opposed, however, to provisions in the bill that allow the USPS to set rates, which NAA believes could lead to discrimination against small businesses -- including newspapers -- and citizen mailers.

NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm testified today before the House Committee on Government Reform's Subcommittee on the Postal Service, chaired by Rep. John M. McHugh (R-N.Y.), the bill's sponsor. NAA appeared before the committee as a member of the Main Street Coalition for Postal Fairness.

``NAA supports a number of provisions of HR 22, including those which would strengthen oversight by the Postal Rate Commission and improve its ability to ensure that the Postal Service does not stray from its public service mission,'' Sturm noted in his testimony.

Among the bill's provisions that NAA supports are: giving the PRC subpoena power over the USPS; relaxing banking requirements for the USPS; strengthening the Inspector General's office; and improving contracting, transportation, law-enforcement and labor matters.

NAA is strongly opposed, however, to provisions in the bill relating to non-competitive products that are ``not consistent with the Postal Service's public-service mission.'' Specifically, NAA is concerned that the bill gives the USPS the ability to offer lower rates for large mailers at the expense of small mailers, and allows it to conduct expensive ``market tests'' -- without prior approval of the PRC -- that could result in business shifting from the private sector to a government entity.

``We appreciate that the bill contains a number of provisions that are intended to prevent Postal Service exploitation of its governmental status and to protect monopoly ratepayers from subsidizing Postal Service forays into competitive markets,'' Sturm noted.

However, he continued, where the USPS offers non-competitive products, the legislation should not grant the USPS the authority to ``price like a business'' and to give one citizen a ``better deal than another.''

``We are concerned that the net result of HR 22 would be to risk further disadvantaging those members of the public whom the Postal Service is intended to serve,'' Sturm explained.

Nevertheless, Sturm added, ``We are glad to support those provisions of HR 22 that focus on improving the Postal Service's performance of its core mission of providing efficient, universal mail service at non-discriminatory rates.''

NAA is a nonprofit organization representing the newspaper industry and more than 1,700 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada. Most NAA members are daily newspapers, accounting for 87 percent of the U.S. daily circulation. Headquartered in Tysons Corner (Vienna, Va.), the Association focuses on six key strategic priorities that affect the newspaper industry collectively: marketing, public policy, diversity, industry development, newspaper operations and readership (added in February 1999). Information about NAA and the industry may also be found at the Association's World Wide Web site on the Internet (www.naa.org).

SOURCE: Newspaper Association of America
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