WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden has signed into law bipartisan legislation led by U.S. Sen. Gary Peters D-Mich., chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, to set the Postal Service on a more sustainable financial footing and support the goal of providing long-term reliable service across the country.

Peters joined Biden at the White House recently for the bill signing. The new law — which passed the House with 342 votes and the Senate with 79 votes — marks the first major reforms to the Postal Service in more than 15 years.

The Postal Service Reform Act will provide key financial and operational reforms to the United States Postal Service. The law will eliminate an onerous prefunding requirement that has hurt the Postal Service financially, and integrate postal worker retirees’ health care with Medicare, Peters said.

Together, these two reforms would create more than $49 billion in savings for the Postal Service over the next 10 years. In addition, the law will require the Postal Service to maintain its standard of delivering at least six days a week.

The legislation will improve transparency of Postal Service operations to both customers and Congress by requiring the publication of easily accessible local weekly service data on the Postal Service website, as well as regular and detailed reporting to Congress on Postal Service finances and operations. The law also includes additional provisions for Postal Service effectiveness, accountability and growth.

Peters has fought to protect the Postal Service and its nearly 250-year tradition of mail delivery. In 2020, he championed legislation to secure a $10 billion direct payment to the Postal Service to help recover from pandemic-related losses. He also conducted an investigation into operational changes at the Postal Service in 2020 that resulted in significant delays. Following Peters’ investigation, the Postal Service reversed many of these changes.