(Rockford) Though most Republican legislators support the Senate bill, Democrats and the postal unions don’t because it would end Saturday service and more easily close post offices and mail-processing plants.

There is another version of the postal bill in the House but it has not been brought onto the floor. This stand still has the postal service hemorrhaging money while waiting for congress approval to fix the problem.

“We’ve seen first class mail volume decline by 50 percent, more than 50 percent in the last 10 years. So all that infrastructure that has built up has kind of gone the other way and we have to right-side the organization and change the way we do business,” says Congressman Don Manzullo (R-IL).

But according to Manzullo lawmakers are not moving on the bill.

“The House and the Senate were working together very closely but I don’t think anything is going to happen this year,” says Hargadon.

CQ Roll Call via Postcom.org: Connecticut Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman is not optimistic that competing versions of postal overhaul legislation can be reconciled before the 112th Congress ends. The Governmental Affairs chairman, who has taken the lead in trying to broker a compromise with the House before his retirement at year’s end, now puts the odds of sending the measure to President Barack Obama at “less than 50 percent.”

WREX.com – Rockford’s News Leader

via Area lawmaker weighs in on US Postal Service fiscal cliff