The Senate voted Tuesday in favor of bipartisan legislation to overhaul the U.S. Postal Service's finances, ensuring a six-day-a-week delivery while providing the agency with more opportunities to expand business to avoid a government bailout.
The measure would require retired postal workers to enroll in Medicare at the age of 65 and reverses a prior requirement that the Postal Service pre-fund its health benefit obligations at least fifty years into the future. Together, those two moves, according to the House Oversight Committee, will save the USPS an estimated $50 billion over a span of 10 years.
"The Senate passed the Postal Service Reform Act," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schmer, D-N.Y., wrote in afollowing the vote. "It will improve service for the millions who rely on the USPS for medicines, voting, essential goods, and their livelihoods. It’s the most significant step we’ve taken in the 21st century to strengthen the USPS."
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021.Unlike most government agencies, the USPS does not receive funding from taxpayers and relies solely on the sales of stamps and the shipment of packages to sustain day-to-day operations.Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich.
Detail view of the USPS logo on a piece of priority mail packaging during a media tour of a United States Postal Service package support annex on Nov. 4, 2021 in La Vergne, Tennessee.Founded in 1775, the Postal Service, now known as USPS, employs more than 500,000 people. Unlike private shipping services, including