The U.S. Senate passed sweeping bipartisan legislation on Tuesday that will order the overhaul of the country's Postal Service's finances that totals $107 billion and allow the agency to modernize its operations and services.
Lawmakers passed the bill with a final vote of 79-19 and will allow it to go to United States President Joe Biden's desk to be signed into law. The bill, known as the Postal Service Reform Act, will require retired postal employees to enroll in Medicare when eligible while removing a previous mandate that forced the agency to cover health care costs years in advance.
Massive USPS Overhaul Bill
The two new measures will allow the Postal Service to save roughly $50 billion in the next 10 years, said the House Oversight Committee. The new legislation would also help the agency create an online dashboard that includes local and national delivery time data.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer touted ahead of the vote on Tuesday that once the legislation passes, postal reform will finally be "signed, sealed, and delivered for the American people." He noted that the citizens of the country are the ones feeling the impact when the Postal Service is forced to cut operational hours or delivery routes or lay off workers, as per CNN.
The bill will also give the Postal Service a significant reprieve by removing $57 billion in past-due postal liabilities. This, together with the $50 billion in payments in the next decade, will total $107 billion worth of finances.
For a long time, Republican lawmakers have criticized the agency and called it a poster child for government waste and incompetence even when it won high marks for approval and trust from the public. Democrats, on the other hand, have praised mail workers during the coronavirus pandemic and called them everyday heroes.
According to the Washington Post, the role of the Postal Service throughout the coronavirus pandemic has prompted lawmakers to reach a consensus on overhauling the balance sheet. They argued that it would no longer be able to withstand another financial shock.
Decades of Financial Losses
Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat who chairs the committee overseeing the Postal Service and who is a lead sponsor of the bill, said that it will ensure that the agency, which he referred to as "essential public service" will be able to walk a path to "long-term financial sustainability."
Furthermore, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, whose union represents postal workers with the USPS, said that the new bill was the culmination of 15 years of hard work to fund and strengthen the agency.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said that with the combination of legislation and operation reforms the agency will be able to fund itself and its operations while continuing to deliver to 161 million addresses six days every week for the next few decades.
DeJoy was responsible for proposing some of the financial reforms in the legislation, which is a key part of his March 2021 reform plan. He said that his plan was to eliminate roughly $160 billion in predicted losses over the next decade, Reuters reported.
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