This legislation is gonna change support lines in Congress……
Urban politics will allow cuts and changes in the postal service…
Rural politics will FROWN on ANY cuts to postal service…..
The U.S. Postal Service would like Congress to allow changes to the mail delivery schedule and other reforms to better control costs, but a set of proposals expected to come to a vote Tuesday could place even more restrictions on when, where and how Americans receive their mail.
The Senate plans to vote on dozens of amendments designed to overhaul the Postal Service, by providing nearly $11 billion to fund the buyouts of hundreds of thousands of employees and, eventually, ending six-day-a-week mail delivery.
The proposals could also establish new service standards and revamp how the USPS sets aside money for its retirees.
Unlike most issues under consideration this year on Capitol Hill, overhauling the Postal Service does not break along traditional partisan or ideological lines. Central to the cost-cutting measures are plans to close hundreds of processing facilities and more than 2,000 post offices, an issue that pits lawmakers from smaller, rural states against colleagues from larger, more urban areas, where the proposed closings would have less of an impact.
Lawmakers who normally work closely together — including Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) — find themselves on opposing sides of the debate.
Lieberman is a sponsor of the bipartisan overhaul bill, but McCain introduced a different version, backed by House Republicans, that would establish a control board to review postal finances. McCain’s plan will be introduced as an amendment to Lieberman’s bill, but the amendment is not expected to pass.
In all, Senate leaders approved 39 amendments to the bill, but aides expect fewer than 20 to eventually earn an up or down vote.
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