Senate passes Postal Service Reform Act

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) today applauded the passage of the Postal Service Reform Act, a bipartisan bill to strengthen the United States Postal Service (USPS) by setting standards and increasing transparency within the USPS. This legislation comes as residents in Charlottesville, and throughout the Commonwealth, continue to experience severe delays in mail delivery.

“This legislation is a strong first step towards improving the costly and unacceptable delays within the United States Postal Service,” Sen. Warner said. “The USPS provides essential services to Americans across the country, and it is crucial that we maintain a healthy and solvent USPS moving forward. I am proud to support this bill, which will increase transparency and work to address the widespread delays experienced by Virginians.”

The Postal Service Reform Act includes multiple provisions that will:

• Eliminate the aggressive prefunding requirement that has hurt the Postal Service financially, and integrate postal worker retirees’ health care with Medicare. Together, these two reforms would create over $49 billion in savings for the Postal Service over the next ten years.

• Require the Postal Service to maintain its standard of delivering at least six days a week.

• Improve transparency of Postal Service operations to both customers and Congress by requiring the publication of easily accessible weekly service data on the Postal Service website, as well as issuing a detailed report to Congress every six months on Postal Service finances and operations.

Sen. Warner has been an active and vocal proponent of addressing the mail delay problems affecting Virginians all across the Commonwealth. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with families increasingly relying on USPS, Sen. Warner raised concerns regarding the operational and structural changes implemented by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and their impact on timely mail delivery. In February 2021, after hearing from hundreds of Virginians, Sen. Warner urged U.S. Postmaster General DeJoy to rescind the harmful policy changes delaying mail delivery. Shortly thereafter, Sen. Warner pressed DeJoy for answers on measures to restore on-time mail delivery, and called on congressional leaders to confirm President Joe Biden’s nominees to the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors.

During August and November visits to Charlottesville, Sen. Warner has continued to push for a long-term solution and increased communication from USPS.

Sen. Warner has long been an advocate for postal reform. In 2015, he cosponsored the Improving Postal Operations, Service, and Transparency (iPost) Act that aimed to improve service of the USPS through a series of new standards.

Full text of the Postal Service Reform Act is available here.