Senators unveil Postal Service reform bill that could defeat filibuster

Top members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee unveiled a bill to reform the U.S. Postal Service amid the agency’s years of financial woes.

The bill — spearheaded by Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) — would save the post office nearly $46 billion over 10 years by eliminating a pre-funding requirement for postal service retirees and integrating retirees’ health care with Medicare.

The bill has the support of 10 GOP senators, appearing to give it the support needed to defeat a potential filibuster on the Senate floor and pass if every Democrat backs it.

“This commonsense, bipartisan legislation would help put the Postal Service on a sustainable financial footing, ensure it is more transparent and accountable to the American people, and support hardworking postal workers who deliver rain or shine to communities all across the country,” Peters said in a statement.

Portman added that the bill would “help turn around the substantial losses at the Postal Service over the last decade and ensure self-sustaining, high-quality postal service for all Americans.”

The bill would also require that the post office deliver mail six days a week, as well as requiring weekly public data on service and reports to Congress every six months.

The bill comes as U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who attracted controversy last year when he proposed changes to the Postal Service’s operations, has laid out a 10-year reform plan and warned that without changes his agency is in a “death spiral.”

DeJoy’s plan includes a longer time-frame for first class mail delivery and cuts to hours of operations. The report, in arguing for longer delivery time, noted that the Postal Service has been unable to meet its own expectations “over the past eight years.”