Following many complaints regarding U.S. Postal Service shutdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress passed legislation on Tuesday that will support the USPS and guarantee a six-day-a-week mail delivery system.
The bill will now be sent to President Joe Biden to sign into law. USPS officials have been warning that they will run out of money by 2024 if Congress didn't pass the bill to support their operations.
The House of Representatives approved the bill last month with a vote of 342-92. The Senate then voted 79-19 on Tuesday to send the bill to President Biden.
"The post office usually delivers for us, but today we're going to deliver for them," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, said.
The Postal Service Reform Act would make it a law for mail to be delivered six days a week, with the exceptions of federal holidays, natural disasters, and other similar situations.
The new bill also affects workers' health benefits, ending the requirement that the Postal Service would have to finance their benefits ahead of time for the next 75 years. Now, future retirees will have to enroll in Medicare, and the Postal Service will pay current retirees' health care costs that aren't covered by the program.
Any previously proposed plans or ideas of cutting back on mail delivery or any other major changes to the postal system have been pushed to the side for the new bill.
The Postal Service has suffered 14 straight years of financial losses, despite delivering to over 1 million additional locations every year. Declines in mail volume, along with increasing workers' compensation and benefit costs have been factors for the financial struggles.
Plenty of Americans still rely on the Postal Service's delivery system for things like government checks and prescription drugs, in addition to the common birthday cards or online purchases that are delivered by USPS workers.
Michigan Sen. Gary Peters said that the Postal Service is "a vital part of the fabric of our nation" and believes that the Postal Service Reform Act will help continue the "250-year tradition of delivering service to the American people."
Under the new bill, an online "dashboard" will be made available to customers that allows them to see how long it will take for their mail to be delivered by entering their ZIP code.
Mark Dimondstein, the president of the American Postal Workers Union, said the new bill is a "turning point in the fight to protect and strengthen the people's public postal service, a national treasure."
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