Biden signs Postal Reform Act into law

By Bill McAllister, Washington Correspondent

President Joe Biden signed the Postal Reform Act of 2022 into law April 6. The new law lays the foundation for “a more sustainable and stable financial” outlook for the United States Postal Service, Biden said.

Speaking to a bipartisan audience of lawmakers, the president congratulated them for removing an onerous payments scheme that plunged the U.S. Postal Service “almost to the breaking point.”

Biden also won applause when he called for the agency “to do more to modernize and electrify” its mail delivery fleet.

“And we’re going to do that,” he promised.

The White House ceremony came on the same day that the Postal Service announced a 6.5 percent increase in first-class mail prices, which troubled commercial mailers. The agency defended the changes, saying the increases were “judicious” and vital for the agency’s long-term health.

The signing ceremony, held in the State Dining Room, allowed the president to take credit for improving the nation’s mail service and to praise lawmakers for working for 12 years to finally enact the new postal law

“I made the promise, you did all the work,” Biden told the members of Congress in attendance.

The measure passed both the House of Representatives and Senate with bipartisan support, an increasingly rare event in a Congress that often splits along party lines on many issues.

Biden said the new law may bring new services to some post offices.

“Imagine a trip to the post office where you can pick up your bus pass or your hunting license or your fishing license,” the president said.

Biden praised the Postal Service’s work delivering the ballots of the 43 percent of voters who voted early by mail during the 2020 presidential election, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“So it’s no exaggeration to say that the Postal Service delivers democracy,” he said.

“This historic law will finally get the Postal Service on a sustainable financial footing after decades of decline,” said Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

Maloney promised to use her position “to conduct rigorous oversight over the Postal Service to ensure it remains financially stable and continues to serve the American people for generations to come.”

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who had urged fellow Republicans to support the measure, was among the guests at the signing ceremony. He was not among the lawmakers invited to stand around the president as he signed the act into law.

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