NAPS Chat

During this week's episode of NAPS Chat, Joy Sazone, Research Specialist at the Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG), talks with Bob about a recently issued OIG "White Paper" on the investment of Postal Service pension funds. Joy was the lead author of the White Paper. In part, the paper suggests that had past CSRS and FERS contributions been invested in stock and bond index funds, the value of the USPS and employee contributions would have grown to $1.2 trillion, rather than the current balance of $298 billion. Under current law, CSRS and FERS contributions must be invested in low-yield U.S. Treasury

During this week's episode of NAPS Chat, Bob Levi discusses the imminent introduction of a Senate companion to H.R. 3005, the Postal Police Reform Act, by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard Durbin (D-IL); the May 17 House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce hearing, at which Postmaster General DeJoy testified; and the Postal Regulatory Commission's ongoing "Public Inquiry" into the USPS Sorting and Processing Center initiative.

During this week's episode of NAPS Chat, Karla Kirby, the U.S. Postal Service's Executive Manager for the Postal Service Health Benefits

During this week's episode of NAPS Chat, NAPS Executive Vice President Chuck Mulidore joins Bob Levi to discuss the recently concluded NAPS legislative conference in Washington, DC. Chuck and Bob discuss how conference attendees assessed the different elements of the 2023 NAPS Legislative Training Seminar, congressional engagement, and how NAPS fared on Capitol Hill. 

During this week's episode of NAPS Chat, Frank Albergo, president of the Postal Police Officers Association, joins Bob Levi to discuss the postal crime wave and how to reduce it. The escalation in postal-related crime, including assaults on USPS personnel, mail theft and mail fraud, concurrent with the 2020 USPS

During this week's episode of NAPS Chat, Nick Reaves of Yale Law School's Free Exercise Clinic joins Bob Levi to discuss an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court, Groff v. DeJoy. The case involves the allegation the USPS failed to accommodate the religious  beliefs of one of its employees. On behalf of Yale, Nick filed a "friend  of the court brief" in support of former Rural Carrier Associate Gerald Groff, whose strict religious practice of not working on Sundays, his Sabbath, conflicted with the delivery of Amazon packages. Groff was disciplined for not showing up for work on Sundays. Nick and Bob discuss how religious observance and the Postal Service's unique mission may be calibrated. The Supreme  Court will hear the case on Tuesday, April 18, and can be heard here.

During this week's episode of NAPS Chat, National Association of Postal  Supervisors Executive Vice President Chuck Mulidore joins Bob to discuss  some early congressional activity relating to the social security equity for many Civil Service Retirement  System annuitants; the effect the commencement of collective-bargaining  between the NALC and USPS will have on impending pay talks of supervisors, managers, and postmasters, and legislation to  provide fairness to these pay talks; the potential threat to the $3  billion provided to the USPS for delivery fleet modernization; and the upcoming NAPS legislative conference in Washington, DC.

During this week's episode of NAPS Chat, leading members of the  California Postal Legislative Coalition join Bob to discuss a variety of  issues that impact active and retired postal employees. The participants include: Marilyn Walton, Mary DiGoia and Kathryn Rahming of NAPS, Ron Jones of the NALC, Garry Davis of the  APWU, and Clarice Golden on UPMA. The CA Postal Legislative Coalition is a 25-year old alliance of union and management organizations representing the interests of CA postal  employees and retirees.

During this week's episode of NAPS Chat, Dr. Kevin Kosar, Senior Fellow  at the American Enterprise Institute, joins Bob Levi to discuss the  chaotic opening act of the 118th Congress, American confidence in the U.S. Postal Service and the agency's challenges. Dr. Kosar as been a periodic guest on NAPS Chat. During  Kevin's tenure at the Congressional Research Service, he was its resident expert on the Postal Service.

During this week's episode of NAPS Chat, American University Constitutional Law Professor Stephen Wermiel joins Bob Levi to discuss  the historical context of the U.S. Postal Service being deployed as the nation's morality police. This issue has emerged  from the shadows as the result of the U.S. Department of Justice's  recent memorandum declaring that mailing prescription medication that may terminate a pregnancy does not violate the  1873 Comstock Act.