II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4585 

To maintain prompt and reliable postal services during the COVID–19 health 

emergency, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 16, 2020 

Mr. PETERS (for himself, Mr. CARPER, and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To maintain prompt and reliable postal services during the 

COVID–19 health emergency, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Delivering for America 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROMPT AND RELIABLE POSTAL SERVICES DURING 

7 COVID–19 PANDEMIC. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—During the period beginning on 

9 the date of enactment of this Act and ending on the last 

10 day of the COVID–19 public health emergency or January 


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1 31, 2021, whichever is later, the United States Postal 

2 Service may not implement or approve any change to the 

3 operations or the level of service provided by the Postal 

4 Service from those in effect on January 1, 2020, that 

5 would reduce service performance or impede prompt, reli6 able, and efficient services, including any of the following 

7 actions: 

8 (1) Any change in the nature of postal services 

9 which will generally affect service on a nationwide or 

10 substantially nationwide basis. 

11 (2) Any revision of service standards. 

12 (3) Any closure or consolidation of any post of13 fice or postal facility, or any reduction of the hours 

14 of a post office or postal facility. 

15 (4) Any prohibition or restriction on the use of 

16 overtime or overtime pay to officers or employees of 

17 the Postal Service. 

18 (5) Any change that would prevent the Postal 

19 Service from meeting its service standards or cause 

20 a decline in measurements of performance relative to 

21 those service standards. 

22 (6) Any change that would have the effect of 

23 delaying, deferring, or curtailing mail, allowing for 

24 the non-delivery of mail to a delivery route, or in25 creasing the volume of undelivered mail. 


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1 (7) Treating election mail as any class of mail 

2 other than first-class mail, regardless of whether 

3 such treatment requires payment of overtime pay to 

4 officers or employees of the Postal Service. 

5 (8) Removing, decommissioning, or any other 

6 stoppage of mail sorting machines, other than for 

7 routine maintenance. 

8 (9) Removing or eliminating any mail collection 

9 box that is available to the public. 

10 (10) Enacting any rule, policy, or standard the 

11 purpose or effect of which would delay the delivery 

12 of mail to or from a government entity. 

13 (11) Instituting any hiring freeze. 

14 (b) REVERSAL OF POLICIES HINDERING DELIVERY

15 OF MAIL.—The United States Postal Service shall reverse 

16 any initiative or action that is causing delay in processing 

17 or delivery or non-delivery of the mail. 

18 (c) ELECTION MAIL.— 

19 (1) POLICY ON POSTMARKS.—It shall be the 

20 policy of the United States Postal Service to post21 mark, which shall include any imprinted indicia from 

22 the Postal Service that indicates the date of receipt, 

23 all election mail processed by the Postal Service. 

24 (2) SAME-DAY PROCESSING.—The United 

25 States Postal Service shall ensure, to the maximum 


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1 extent practical, that election mail is processed and 

2 cleared from any postal facility or post office on the 

3 same day on which the election mail is received at 

4 the postal facility or post office. 

5 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

6 (1) the term ‘‘COVID–19 public health emer7 gency’’ means the public health emergency declared 

8 by the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

9 under section 319 of the Public Health Service Act 

10 (42 U.S.C. 247d) on January 31, 2020, with respect 

11 to COVID–19, including any renewal of that dec12 laration; 

13 (2) the term ‘‘election mail’’ means mail con14 sisting of— 

15 (A) voter registration application forms, 

16 completed voter registration application forms, 

17 and voter registration cards or similar mate18 rials; 

19 (B) absentee and other mail-in ballot appli20 cation forms, blank absentee and other mail-in 

21 ballots, and completed absentee and other mail22 in ballots; and 

23 (C) other materials relating to an election 

24 which are mailed by a State or local election ofVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:12 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4585.IS S4585

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1 ficial to individuals who are registered to vote 

2 in the election; and 

3 (3) the term ‘‘government entity’’ means the 

4 Federal Government or any State (as that term is 

5 defined in section 311 of title 5, United States 

6 Code) or local government and any subdivision 

7 thereof. 

8 SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATION FOR THE POSTAL 

9 SERVICE. 

10 There is appropriated, out of any money in the Treas11 ury not otherwise appropriated, for the fiscal year ending 

12 September 30, 2020, for an additional payment to the 

13 Postal Service Fund established under section 2003 of 

14 title 39, United States Code, $25,000,000,000, to remain 

15 available until expended. Of the amount appropriated 

16 under the previous sentence, $15,000,000 shall be trans17 ferred to ‘‘United States Postal Service—Office of Inspec18 tor General—Salaries and Expenses’’. 

19 SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

20 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to alter or oth21 erwise effect the terms and conditions of section 3406 of 

22 title 39, United States Code (relating to balloting mate23 rials under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee 

24 Voting Act). 


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1 SEC. 5. BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The amounts provided by this Act 

3 are designated as an emergency requirement pursuant to 

4 section 4(g) of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 

5 (2 U.S.C. 933(g)). 

6 (b) DESIGNATION IN THE SENATE.—In the Senate, 

7 this Act is designated as an emergency requirement pursu8 ant to section 4112(a) of H. Con. Res. 71 (115th Con9 gress), the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal 

10 year 2018. 

Æ 


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