Senate Passes Plan to Save Postal Service

A plan to save the US Postal Service from financial collapse has passed the Senate with unusual speed. The Senate plan calls for a major overhaul of the service, which is losing $36 million a day. The bill would allow the service to cut its pension and retiree benefit costs, and to cut Saturday service by 2014, the New York Times reports. It would also place restrictions on the closing down of post offices and on compensation for Postal Service execs.

"This is a bipartisan bill that will bring necessary change to the Postal Service in order to save it," said Sen. Joe Lieberman. The independent from Connecticut sponsored the bill, along with two Republicans and a Democrat. Despite the passage of the Senate bill, the service's future remains uncertain, notes the Los Angeles Times. A competing bill in the House, with major differences, has not been scheduled for a vote, and the service will start shutting down processing centers in mid-May if a law isn't passed first. (More US Postal Service stories.)