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Golden Introduces Legislation to Provide USPS with Emergency Funds

September 21, 2020

Bipartisan bill provides up to $25 billion to the USPS, protects rural Mainers’ access to lifesaving resources

WASHINGTON — Following reports of serious delivery delays for Mainers' prescription medications, important documents, and other critical mail, Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) and Congressman Anthony Gonzalez (OH-16) have introduced the Postal Service Emergency Assistance Actin the House.

Golden's legislation would provide up to $25 billion in emergency funding to the United States Postal Service (USPS), allowing the USPS to continue dependably delivering mail to hundreds of thousands of Mainers while the U.S. battles the coronavirus pandemic. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) have introduced companion legislation in the Senate.

"The Postal Service is an essential lifeline for rural Mainers and small businesses across our district," said Golden. "Our bipartisan bill provides emergency funding to the Postal Service so that it can continue to operate at full capacity during the coronavirus pandemic."

Golden and Gonzalez's bill would:

  • Provide USPS with up to $25 billion in emergency COVID-19 funding, while ensuring that these funds are used only for COVID-19-related losses and expenses.
  • Clarify the borrowing authority provided in the CARES Act to indicate that the Treasury Secretary shall lend the funds at the request of USPS and set the same terms and conditions of the loan as those in place on September 29, 2018.

  • Require the new postmaster general and the board of governors to transmit to Congress a plan to ensure the long-term solvency of USPS no later than nine months after the bill's enactment.

Golden's introduction of the legislation follows his vote to pass the Delivering for America Act last month. That bipartisan bill would prohibit recent changes implemented by the postmaster general to change service standards or close USPS facilities while also providing the Postal Service with financial relief. Golden and Gonzalez's bill takes a more targeted approach, focusing squarely on financial relief.