Congress gave final approval on Tuesday to the most sprawling overhaul of the Postal Service in nearly two decades, sending President Biden legislation intended to return the beleaguered agency to solvency and address pandemic-era mail delays. The Senate voted 79 to 19 to approve the measure, which passed the House last month with overwhelming bipartisan support. Mr. Biden was expected to sign the bill, which the agency’s leadership and an array of interest groups support.
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The Postal Service, arguably one of the most beloved federal agencies, has been on the brink of insolvency for years, largely because of a 2006 law that requires the agency to fund retiree health care benefits for its employees in advance. In 2020, a slowdown of mail delivery and a series of operational changes before the election prompted renewed scrutiny, and Congress doubled down on efforts to reform the agency’s structure and address its financial woes. The legislation removes the retirement mandate and instead requires retired Postal Service employees to enroll in Medicare when they are eligible, a change that lawmakers and agency officials estimated would save $50 billion over a decade. “The post office usually delivers for us, but today we’re going to deliver for them,” said Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader. “For the past few months, Democrats and Republicans have been working together in good faith to reform some of the most troubled parts of the Postal Service.”
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“Our country is pretty divided right now, let’s be honest,” Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio and a key sponsor of the bill, said in a recent floor speech. “But one enduring reality about our country is that we have a post office that ties us all together, and everybody depends on that post office.”
