The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - The new spending bill passed by Congress on
Thursday appears to continue the requirement for six-day mail delivery,
but some lawmakers and postal officials say plans to cut Saturday
service should proceed.
The financially troubled Postal Service
announced last month that it would switch in August to five-day service
for first-class mail and continue six-day package delivery. The
government at the time was running on a temporary spending measure and
postal officials invited lawmakers to spell out the way ahead in the
2013 spending bill. That sweeping funding bill was approved Thursday
without new language.
Some lawmakers say a long-standing provision
in the bill mandates six-day delivery. Postal authorities argue they
still will have delivery over six days, just that not all mail will be
delivered all six days.
Meanwhile, the Government Accountability
Office weighed in with an opinion that the postal agency did not have
the right to unilaterally end Saturday mail.
"We strongly disagree
with the GAO's legal opinion," said David Partenheimer, spokesman for
the Postal Service. "The critical issue is that the Postal Service is
losing $25 million per day under its existing regulatory structure."
The letter carriers union, which has strongly disagreed with the Saturday cutback plan, sided with the GAO.
"We
fully expect the Postal Service's board of governors and the postmaster
general to follow the law and the expressed will of Congress about
maintaining six-day delivery," Fredric Rolando, president of the
National Association of Letter Carriers, said in a statement. "We do not
expect to have a legal fight."
Some lawmakers believe the agency
has the responsibility to make the cutback because of it mounting red
ink. Among them are Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Rep. Darrell Issa of
California. The Republicans sent a letter to the postal board of
governors Thursday, telling the governors to stick with their cutback
plan.
"Without major, immediate restructuring actions, annual
operating deficits will increase, and the Postal Service will sink much
deeper into default on payments owed to taxpayers," the letter said.
The
Postal Service said it expected to save $2 billion annually with the
Saturday cutback. The plan accentuates one of the agency's strong
points: Package delivery has increased by 14 percent since 2010,
officials say, while the delivery of letters and other mail has
plummeted. Email has decreased the mailing of paper letters, but online
purchases have increased package shipping, forcing the Postal Service to
adjust to customers' new habits.
The Postal Service lost $1.3
billion in the final three months of last year, following a nearly $16
billion loss the previous fiscal year.