by John Isley
The United States Senate passed Senate bill 1789, the Postal Reform Act, by a vote of 62-37 on Wednesday, April 25th.
One of the amendments approved, as sponsored by Senator McCaskill, will prohibit the closure of rural post offices, such as Woodgate, for a period of one year until all options to continue service have been exhausted.
Other amendments require the postal service to consider the impact on rural small businesses before any closing can occur, consider the economic savings before closing postal facilities, and establishing standards for closing rural offices that include demographics, weather and citizens served.The bill also caps postal executive’s compensation to no greater than what is paid to cabinet secretaries, to transfer $11 billion of overpayments back from the postal retirement fund to the postal service, and help in processing postal retirements.
In addition, it directs the postal service to cease the closure of any facilities pending passage of the bill which will now move to consideration by the House of Representatives.
The bill provided for stronger and more aggressive marketing of new products by the postal services pending postal regulatory commission approval and to allow for greater citizens appeal to the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) concerning post office closings.
Woodgate recently received a split 2-2 decision from the Postal Regulatory Commission in its appeal to keep its post office open.
The House is expected to take up the bill in the near future.
