In 2006 Congress passed a law mandating that the Postal Service pre-fund 75 years of retiree costs within a ten-year period. No other government agency or company has to do this. The Postal Service has to pay now for employees who are not even born yet. Furthermore, since 1970 the Postal Service is required to break even, while being unable - per Congressional mandate - to raise rates without Congressional approval, enter new lines of business or take other steps to help it raise revenue. This 2006 law requires the Service to come up with $8 billion each year.
The GAO has also looked at the effects of this law. While it agrees that there should be some pre-funding of any unfunded retiree health benefit liability, it believes that the maximum annual commitment should not be a finite number; the commitment should be to the maximum extent that its finances permit.
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