TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

3 Florida Lawmakers Plan Push For Free Mail To Troops

ADVERTISEMENT

By BILLY HOUSE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 23, 2008

WASHINGTON - When the ladies auxiliary of Post 424 of the Veteran of Foreign Wars teamed with local Temple Terrace third-graders last week to send about 100 Christmas cards to U.S. troops in Afghanistan, someone had to pay the postage.

Their mailings included no bulky packages, audiotapes or oversized photos or books, yet the postal tab was $52.76.

"It cost me a fortune for something that we should be able to send to them for free," said Sharon Lowry, president of the auxiliary. "After all, they are doing so much for the country."

Lowry is not alone in her thinking.

Three Bay area members of Congress — Reps. Gus Bilirakis, Kathy Castor and Adam Putnam — say they intend to launch new congressional efforts to create a free-mail-to-troops program for service members in combat zones.

The trio plan to push for passage of a bill in the congressional session that will start in January. Such a program has been estimated by the Congressional Budget Office to cost taxpayers as much as $30 million over two years.

"I have a lot of constituents who send CARE packages," said Bilirakis, a Republican from Palm Harbor. "They don't mind spending the money, but they could spend more on packages if they don't have to pay the postage."

Service members in Iraq and Afghanistan — along with those hospitalized in a military facility from an injury or disease resulting from combat-zone assignments — can send personal correspondence free to any area within delivery limits of the U.S. Postal Service.

It has never been authorized for U.S. citizens to send mail to service members, whether overseas or not, without paying postage.

Congress did come close in 2006. Legislation to create such a program was passed by the House as part of a defense authorization bill.

That language would have established a one-year program under which U.S. troops in combat zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan would get a monthly voucher for families or friends to cover the cost of sending one letter or parcel to the service member.

Congressional researchers have reported that it costs $86.50 to send a 20-pound package by International Express Mail from the United States to Iraq.

That language was missing from the final version of the bill that reached the Senate and never made it to the president's desk to be signed in to law.

According to a 2006 report by the Congressional Research Service, there are various "practical difficulties" with allowing letters and packages to be sent free to troops in combat areas. They include:

If free-mailing privileges to the troops were extended to anyone, it could open up a floodgate of communication, some unwanted, from advertisers, religious organizations and pro- or anti-war groups;

Limiting eligibility to family members of service personnel, though, would add a burden of verification on postal clerks to determine who qualifies as family.

Castor, a Tampa Democrat, said the House has passed one potential solution: the idea of allowing troops to give special coupons to friends and family to mail back letters and packages.

Putnam, a Republican from Bartow, said, "Crafting federal legislation is never easy, but we can work through the challenges that they raised. We need to be talking about how we can do it rather than having the post office and others tell us why we can't do it."

"We'll find the money," Bilirakis said. "This is a priority. This is something that needs to be done and should have been done long ago."

Reporter Billy House can be reached at (202) 662-7673 or bhouse@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT