Senate OKs postal reform

WASHINGTON — A bill intended to improve the finances and operations of the Postal Service won Senate approval Thursday despite.

The Senate bill was passed by voice vote. The House passed similar legislation by a vote of 410-20 in July. The two versions will now go to conference committee to work out differences.

It's crucial to change the way post offices operate, the sponsors of the Senate bill said in a joint statement. "Under its current business model, the Postal Service's financial future is not viable," said Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Thomas Carper, D-Del.

Senate action was welcomed by Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., who ushered the bill through the House.

"Congress is not only helping move the Postal Service into the 21st century, but we are addressing the structural, legal and financial constraints that have brought the Postal Service toward a financial death spiral," said Davis, chairman of the House Government Reform Committee. "The health of the Postal Service is important to the entire economy."

More than 9 million American jobs, $900 billion in commerce and 9 percent of the gross domestic product depend upon mail and package delivery.

Also happy was William H. Young, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, who said, "This is an important step, one that hopefully will lead to speedy action by the House-Senate Conference to attain final language for the president's signature."

And Robert E. McLean, head of the Mailer's Council, a business group, called the approval "a tribute to bipartisan congressional action and a united mailing community — mailers, unions and management associations — all fighting for a financially healthy Postal Service."

While postal management has worked with Congress for several years to get reform legislation, late last month the postal governing board announced opposition to the measure.

"We believe there are critical elements missing from this bill, as well as numerous burdensome provisions that would make it extremely difficult for the Postal Service to function in a modern, competitive environment," the Postal Service's governing board said in a letter to Collins, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Top postal officials could not immediately be reached Thursday for comment on passage of the measure.