December 22, 2020
A COVID Relief bill has passed the U.S. House and Senate. The bill has been sent to the President who is expected to sign sometime in the next few days.
Provisions in the bill affecting the US Postal Service include:
- No part of funds to be used to consolidate or close small rural or other small post offices
- No repayment of the $10million made available through a loan the CARES Act
- $250 million from Postal Service Fund* for USPS Office of the Inspector General expenses
- $17 million from Postal Service Fund* for Postal Regulatory Commission expenses
*The Postal Service Fund is a revolving fund in the US Treasury made available to the US Postal Service to carry out the purposes, functions, and powers authorized by Title 39 of the U.S. Code.
A permanent solution to the USPS funding problem would be if congress took some amount say, $25.00 per person from the taxes we pay and uses it to help fund the USPS every year. It is just a small amount of what we pay in taxes and it would go to support a service that most Americans appreciate.