February 9, 2006, Sewickley, Pennsylvania -- The Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (PIA/GATF) today praised passage of postal reform and modernization legislation in the U.S. Senate. The bill, S. 662, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, was a PIA/GATF “priority vote” and passed the Senate under Unanimous Consent on February 9, 2006. Achieving postal reform in the 109th Congress is PIA/GATF’s number one industry goal. “Senate passage of postal reform is a huge victory in the printing industry’s long quest for a major legislative overhaul of this country’s postal laws. Large corporations and small, family firms, along with printing employees, customers, and stakeholders, will benefit from this desperately needed modernization of the U.S. Postal Service,” said Michael Makin, President and CEO of PIA/GATF. “S. 662 takes steps to ensure that future postal rate hikes will be both more affordable and more predictable, allowing the printing industry to continue serving customers efficiently and successfully.” “PIA/GATF thanks the U.S. Senate for recognizing the urgent need for postal reform and modernization, and for acting to pass S. 662 early in the second session of the 109th Congress. We urge a swift beginning to conference proceedings so that America’s mailers – individual taxpayers—and the larger ‘mailing economy’ can soon realize the positive economic effects of postal reform.” Today’s Senate vote was over three decades in the making and is a product of years of debate, compromise, and advocacy efforts by PIA/GATF and its allies in the “mailing economy—an economic sector that contributes nearly nine percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product and employs nearly 9,000,000 workers. In addition to the printing industries, the “mailing economy” includes sectors such as paper, forestry, publishing, retail, financial services, and advertising.