President George W. Bush signed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA; P.L. 109-435 ; 120 Stat. 3198) on December 20, 2006. The PAEA was the first broad revision of the 1970 statute that replaced the U.S. Post Office, a federal agency dependent upon appropriations, with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), a self-supporting, independent agency of the executive branch. The USPS is expected to operate like a business, but it must do so within various statutory confines and serve various public purposes. The 112 th Congress is considering additional major postal reforms, including reductions in service, expansion of the USPS's authority to provide products and services, and alterations to the postal employees pension and healthcare plans. The proximate cause for the recent efforts at postal reform is the USPS's troubled financial condition. After running modest profits from FY2004 through FY2006, the USPS lost $25.4 billion between FY2007 and FY2011. Were it not for congressional action to reduce a statutorily required payment to the USPS's Retirees Health Benefits Fund (RHBF), the USPS would have lost an additional $9.5 billion. The current year has brought further losses. In the first half of FY2012, the USPS had an operating loss of $6.4 billion, which included a $6.1 billion charge for payments due to the RHBF in FY2012. As the USPS's finances have deteriorated, its ability to absorb operating losses has been diminished. Since FY2005, the USPS's debt has risen to $13 billion from $0, $2 billion below its maximum statutory borrowing authority (39 U.S.C. 2005(a)(2)(C)). The USPS is due to pay $11.1 billion to its RHBF before the end of FY2012. The agency does not have sufficient cash to make those payments. At the conclusion of the second quarter of FY2012, the USPS had $818 million in cash, which is a low level for an agency with an average weekly operating expense of nearly $1.4 billion. According to one media report, the USPS may exhaust its cash in October 2012. However, the USPS has not suggested that a short-term, zero-cash scenario would produce a suspension of operations this autumn. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe stated in an interview that the USPS could preserve sufficient cash to maintain operations until "late next year," although he did not clarify whether he was referring to calendar or fiscal year 2013. The USPS's recent deficits are the product of the significant decline in revenue, caused by declining mail volume, and rising costs. In the past five years, revenues have fallen 12.2%, to $65.7 billion from $74.8 billion. (See Figure 1 .) This is the result of mail volume falling 20.9%, to 167.9 billion pieces (FY2011) from 212.2 billion pieces (FY2007). Concurrently, the USPS's operating expenses have declined but nonetheless exceed the agency's revenues. (See Figure 2 .) These deficits are particularly problematic because Congress designed the USPS to be self-supporting (P.L. 91-375; 84 Stat. 725). Most federal agencies rely on annual appropriations; since 1971, the USPS has largely covered its expenses through the sales of postal services. The USPS, an "independent agency of the executive branch," does go through the appropriations process each year. However, the approximately $100 million it receives in annual appropriations is only to reimburse the USPS for the costs it bears to provide free mailing privileges to blind persons and overseas voters. To help stem its losses, the USPS has taken a number of steps. Foremost, the Postal Service has downsized its workforce through attrition. Since FY2006, the number of career postal workers has shrunk 21.9%, to about 544,000 from 696,138. The agency also has increased its productivity and reduced its workhours (e.g., the hours employees spend on the job), even though the number of USPS delivery points has grown. (See Table 1 .) The agency has moved, albeit haltingly, to close post offices and reduce their operating hours. It also may shutter 146 mail processing plants by early 2013. The Postal Service has proposed to further reduce its operating costs by eliminating "the expectation of overnight service for significant portions of First-Class Mail and Periodicals." These proposals have been criticized and it is unclear whether they will proceed further. However, the USPS has stated that it cannot rectify its financial problems without congressional assistance. The agency has requested Congress to abolish the annual RHBF payment; permit the USPS to move its workforce off the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHB); recalculate the USPS's contributions to the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and refund to the USPS $75 billion; recalculate the USPS's contributions to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) and refund to the USPS $12 billion; authorize the USPS to override collective bargaining prohibitions on layoffs so as to enable the USPS to eliminate an additional 120,000 positions by FY2015; require arbitrators during collective bargaining between the USPS and postal unions to consider the financial condition of the USPS when rendering a decision; permit the USPS to reduce mail delivery to five days per week; increase the USPS's authority to raise its prices; and allow the USPS to offer a wider range of products and services. Numerous postal reform bills have been introduced in the 112 th Congress. Of these, H.R. 2309 and S. 1789 have progressed the furthest toward enactment. Representative Darrell E. Issa, chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee (H-OGR), introduced H.R. 2309 , the Postal Reform Act of 2011, on June 23, 2011. H-OGR reported H.R. 2309 with amendments on January 17, 2012 ( H.Rept. 112-363 , Part 1). The House Rules Committee reported H.R. 2309 on March 29, 2012 ( H.Rept. 112-363 , Part 2). The full House may consider the bill in July or August of 2012. Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, introduced S. 1789 , the 21 st Century Postal Service Act of 2012, on November 11, 2011. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee reported the bill with amendments on January 26, 2012 ( S.Rept. 112-143 ). The Senate passed S. 1789 amended by a vote of 62-37 on April 25, 2012. As reported from committee, H.R. 2309 would establish a base realignment-type commission (BRAC) that would be required to devise a plan to reduce USPS's annual facilities costs by $3 billion. Savings of $1 billion would be required to come from retail postal facilities and savings of $2 billion would be required to come from mail processing plant closures. The five-member commission would be appointed by the President from persons recommended by the Comptroller General and congressional leadership. (Sections 101-109); authorize the USPS to declare 12 days per year as non-mail delivery days in any year for which six-day delivery is required; and it would permit the USPS to begin a process of moving to five-day mail delivery six months after enactment of H.R. 2309 (Section 111); establish a financial "authority" to oversee the USPS's operations in the event of a USPS default on an obligation to the U.S. Treasury. The five-member authority would be appointed by the President from persons recommended by the Comptroller General and congressional leadership. The authority would exist in an advisory capacity for two years. During this time, the USPS would be provided with $10 billion in additional borrowing authority. If after two years the USPS continues to run annual deficits of $2 billion or more, the authority would take control of the USPS's operations. The authority would be required to direct the USPS to convert 75% of deliveries made to the front doors of homes and businesses to be moved to curbs or centralized delivery boxes. The authority also would have to develop a budget for the USPS that would have it running annual surpluses within two years (Sections 201-232). The authority also could authorize the Postmaster General to consult with postal employee unions to revise its workers compensation program to move injured employees of retirement age onto retirement benefits (Section 311); immediately transfer to the USPS the $11 billion FERS overpayment (Section 306); control the long-term growth of the USPS's employee compensation costs by (1) lowering the USPS's FEHB and Federal Employee Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) contributions and (2) changing collective bargaining by requiring arbitrators to consider the USPS's financial condition, defining USPS employee compensation to include all benefits, abolishing the requirement that USPS maintain employee fringe benefits not less than those provided in 1970, and requiring the USPS and unions to adopt reductions-in-force (RIF) procedures (Sections 301-305); gradually increase the postage rates for some mail classes that the USPS carries at a loss (Sections 401-403); end all annual appropriations to the USPS (Section 409); and reduce the USPS's FY2011 RHBF payment (due in August 2012) from $5.5 billion to $1.0 billion, and increase the USPS's FY2015 and FY2016 RHBF payments by $2.25 billion each year (Section 410). The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates H.R.