Senate Passes Measure to Help U.S. Postal Service

The Senate has passed overhaul legislation that would allow the financially strapped U.S. Postal Service to avert immediate bankruptcy, giving it a cash infusion while delaying decisions on closing post offices and ending Saturday delivery.

The bill passed on a 62-37 vote.

Under the measure, the postal service would get an $11 billion refund of overpayments made to a federal fund to pay down debt and finance buyouts to 100,000 postal employees.

At the same, it would halt the closing of more than 100 mail processing centers, bar any shutdowns before the November elections and protect rural post offices for one year.

The issue now goes to the House, which has yet to consider a separate bill.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)