Senate Passes Postal Bill S 1789 By 62-37 Vote

Late Wednesday afternoon, the Senate passed S 1789, the 21st Century Postal Act of 2012, by an overwhelming margin of 62-37. The bill makes it more difficult to close small rural post offices and provides a one year moratorium on closings of small post offices in rural areas. The bill provides a return of $11 billion (prefunding overpayment) to the Postal Service, which can be used to pay down the postal debt and fund buyouts for employees. Under this bill, the Postal Service would save billions of dollars annually as health benefits prefunding requirements would be reduced. The savings would come as a result of an approved re-structuring of the Postal Services scheduled payments for retiree health benefits, which would still provide the necessary funding for future retiree health benefits. Now, similar legislation must move through the House before it can become law. For more information on S 1789, and where postal legislation goes from here, please go to the NAPUS Legislative News link. Charlie Moser April 26, 2012 http://www.napus.org/senate-passes-postal-bill-s-1789-by-62-37-vote/