Congress ties Postmaster General's pay to Postal Service performance.
H.R. 9936 — PERFORM Act · Filed by Dale Strong (R-AL) · 8 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 23, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends federal law to prohibit the Postmaster General from receiving bonuses, incentive awards, or performance-based pay in any fiscal year if the Postal Service ran a deficit, missed service targets, received audit warnings, or failed to report to Congress. It also requires the Postmaster General to file an annual report to Congress detailing all senior executive bonuses and the metrics justifying them, subject to review by the Postal Service Inspector General.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a pay-for-performance restraint on a single federal executive, coupled with mandatory reporting and inspector general oversight. It is a governance and accountability measure, not a substantive postal policy reform.
What the text implies
- The bill does not address the underlying causes of Postal Service deficits or service failures—it only withholds compensation after they occur, leaving structural problems unresolved.
- The reporting requirement may create a public record of Postal Service performance metrics and financial data that was previously less transparent, potentially increasing congressional and public scrutiny.
- The bonus prohibition may reduce the Postmaster General's financial incentive to pursue cost-cutting or revenue-raising measures, which could either protect service quality or allow inefficiencies to persist depending on implementation.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill creates a transparency and accountability mechanism (annual reporting, IG review) that serves the public interest by tying executive compensation to measurable service and financial performance. However, the practical civic benefit depends on whether the Postal Service's underlying financial and operational problems are structural (requiring legislative remedy) or managerial (addressable by pay incentives), and the bill does not address the former—it only withholds compensation when pro
Named in the bill
Postmaster General, Postal Service, United States Postal Service (USPS), Inspector General of the Postal Service, Congress, Title 39 United States Code
Where it stands
8 cosponsors: 6 Republicans, 2 Democrats.
- Jul 23, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 23, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,796 characters) on Oct 31, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,778 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-31.
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