Sen. Bernie Sanders says he’s encouraged by a vote in the U.S. Senate to modernize the U.S. Postal Service. But the Vermont independent says the effort to save the mail processing facility in White River Junction and rural post offices still faces several hurdles.
The Senate voted 74 to 22 on Tuesday to take up the postal service legislation. Sanders helped write an amendment that creates a special commission to help the agency develop a more entrepreneurial business model.
The legislation also calls for the appointment of a chief innovation officer to direct development of new products and services to strengthen the postal services’ finances. The struggling postal service agreed to delay the closing of thousands of local post offices until May so that Congress could take action.