Senate prepared to push back postal reform vote

A Senate procedural vote on postal reform, which lawmakers and aides expected as soon as Monday, likely will occur in the middle of the week, according to senior staffers in the chamber. 

The latest hang-up for the Senate’s bipartisan postal reform bill comes as Republicans are poised to support a Monday procedural motion that would allow the Senate to debate a measure that would end tax breaks used by the oil industry.

With hours of debate now expected on the oil bill, aides say they expect the Senate to finish consideration of the postal measure after lawmakers return to Washington in mid-April from a two-week recess.

“Bottom line, the meaningful debate on postal reform legislation will not happen until after the Easter recess,” one aide with knowledge of postal negotiations said.

GOP senators had been expected to oppose advancing the bill on the tax breaks, given that the vast majority of them have opposed similar legislation in the past.

But Republicans are expected to use floor time to criticize the measure, as gas prices and energy policy continue to be key political issues in this presidential election year.

Adam Jentleson, a spokesman for Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), told The Hill that he expected the time alloted for the debate to be either exhausted or yielded by Wednesday at the latest, which would then allow the Senate to take a procedural vote on the postal bill.

After the procedural vote on the postal bill, the Senate would then continue its consideration of the measure on energy tax breaks.

Interested lawmakers had hoped to move more quickly on legislation that would aid the Postal Service, which has seen a drop in mail volume and sustained billions of dollars in losses in recent years.

But the bill from Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Scott Brown (R-Mass.) has faced resistance from some colleagues.

Lawmakers also face something of a time crunch on postal reform, with the Postal Service able to move forward with plans to potentially close thousands of local post offices and scores of mail processing centers on May 15.

USPS had implemented a moratorium on closing facilities at the request of Democratic lawmakers, who wanted time to hash out legislation overhauling postal operations.

“This impending deadline will serve as a reminder to lawmakers of the urgency of passing a comprehensive reform bill before that deadline if they want to prevent the Postal Service from having to pursue even less desirable measures without Congressional input – such as closing hundreds of processing facilities and post offices – to save money,” the aide with knowledge of postal negotiations said.

Any legislation the Senate passes would almost certainly have to be reconciled with House legislation to become law.

The House Rules Committee is scheduled on Monday to examine a postal reform bill from Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Dennis Ross (R-Fla.) and others, but that measure has yet to be scheduled for floor time.

The bipartisan Senate bill would potentially allow USPS to move to five-day delivery after two years. It would also give the agency more time to complete a required prepayment for retiree health care, and let it ship wine and beer.

Meanwhile, senators like Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and other members of the Democratic caucus have pushed to include more safeguards for preserving rural post offices. Sanders also has called for keeping Saturday delivery for at least four years.

USPS has its own financial stability plan, which it says would reduce annual costs by more than $22 billion by 2016.

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe is scheduled to discuss the plan – which would allow USPS to, among other things, run its own health care plan for employees – with a House panel on Tuesday.

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