Obama renews call to end Saturday mail delivery (Reuters)

February 13, 2012

By Emily Stephenson

(Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s proposed 2013 budget repeated a call to allow the U.S. Postal Service to end Saturday mail delivery and tap into a retirement-fund surplus, as lawmakers hash out the details of postal legislation.

The budget outline released on Monday included several steps to provide relief to the cash-strapped Postal Service that closely matched plans the Obama administration proposed in September 2011 as part of a deficit-reduction plan.

The 2013 budget updated the amount of savings expected from recapturing a retirement-fund surplus and other steps to $25 billion over 11 years. Last year’s plan forecast savings of $19 billion over 10 years.

The president’s updated proposal comes as pressure mounts on Congress to pass legislation overhauling the Postal Service. The agency announced last week it lost $3.3 billion in its most recent quarter, much of it due to a payment to prefund retiree health benefits.

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