The proposal comes as lawmakers are grappling with how to reform postal operations, with USPS losing billions of dollars in recent years as mail volume declined.

{mosads}But with the Postal Service looking to close thousands of post offices and processing centers, lawmakers, especially those with rural districts, also have expressed concern about lost jobs and slower delivery standards.

“As the postal service looks to curb costs by cutting rural services, they should look at all expenditures – and that includes top salaries and bonuses,” Noem said in a statement.

“While American families are struggling to get by and the jobs of thousands of postal employees across the country remain in jeopardy, including 700 employees in Buffalo, it’s absurd to think the postmaster general and his top executives are making significantly more than Cabinet secretaries,” Hochul added.

The Postal Service currently has more than a half million career employees, and the broader mailing industry employs millions.

A group of seven Democratic senators also expressed concern about compensation for postal executives, noting that some top officials make more than Vice President Biden.

The Senate is expected to take up its bipartisan postal reform bill after the chamber returns from its two-week break in mid-April. Some Democrats have sought changes in that bill, saying it doesn’t do enough to protect rural post offices.

Meanwhile, a bill pushed by House Republicans is also awaiting floor consideration.

Donahoe has said that, while both bills have positive aspects, neither gives the service the flexibility it needs to cut more than $20 billion in annual operating costs by 2015. The Postal Service has said it will not close any facilities until at least May 15, to allow lawmakers time to negotiate legislation.