Committee Approves Bipartisan Postal Reform Bill

WASHINGTON- Today, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.) held a business meeting to review the Postal Reform Act of 2014, legislation sponsored by Chairman Carper and Ranking Member Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). At the meeting, committee members voted 9 to 1 to favorably report the legislation to the full Senate for consideration.

The full text of the Postal Reform Act of 2014 can be found here.

“It’s no secret that the U.S. Postal Service faces dire financial difficulties that threaten its survival,” said Chairman Carper. “While things have improved modestly in recent months, this American Institution needs long-term, comprehensive reform to address its fiscal challenges and that reform can only come from Congress. The measure reported out of Committee today offers a bipartisan, balanced approach and requires shared sacrifice in order to help the Postal Service survive and thrive for decades to come. I’d like to thank Dr. Coburn and his staff for working tirelessly with me and my staff over the past few months to draft a piece of legislation that both Republicans and Democrats could get behind. I’d also like to thank my colleagues on the Committee and their staffs for their hard work and collaboration on this important measure. With that said, though, it’s important that we not rest on our laurels. We took a big step today, but we are not even halfway there yet. With today’s vote, both the House and Senate have passed postal reform legislation out of committee. We now need to bring these bills to both the Senate floor and the House floor for votes so we can create a conference committee to hash out the differences. Clearly, this is no easy task and we have a lot of work ahead of us. It’s time that Congress and the Administration work together to save the Postal Service for the long haul.”