Delivering for America Act

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. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Delivering for America 4 Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. PROMPT AND RELIABLE POSTAL SERVICES DURING 6 COVID–19 PANDEMIC. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—During the period beginning on 8 the date of enactment of this Act and ending on the last 9 day of the COVID–19 public health emergency or January 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:12 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4585.IS S4585 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4585 IS 31, 2021, whichever is later, the United States Postal 1 Service may not implement or approve any change to the 2 operations or the level of service provided by the Postal 3 Service from those in effect on January 1, 2020, that 4 would reduce service performance or impede prompt, reli- 5 able, and efficient services, including any of the following 6 actions: 7 (1) Any change in the nature of postal services 8 which will generally affect service on a nationwide or 9 substantially nationwide basis. 10 (2) Any revision of service standards. 11 (3) Any closure or consolidation of any post of- 12 fice or postal facility, or any reduction of the hours 13 of a post office or postal facility. 14 (4) Any prohibition or restriction on the use of 15 overtime or overtime pay to officers or employees of 16 the Postal Service. 17 (5) Any change that would prevent the Postal 18 Service from meeting its service standards or cause 19 a decline in measurements of performance relative to 20 those service standards. 21 (6) Any change that would have the effect of 22 delaying, deferring, or curtailing mail, allowing for 23 the non-delivery of mail to a delivery route, or in- 24 creasing the volume of undelivered mail. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:12 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4585.IS S4585 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4585 IS (7) Treating election mail as any class of mail 1 other than first-class mail, regardless of whether 2 such treatment requires payment of overtime pay to 3 officers or employees of the Postal Service. 4 (8) Removing, decommissioning, or any other 5 stoppage of mail sorting machines, other than for 6 routine maintenance. 7 (9) Removing or eliminating any mail collection 8 box that is available to the public. 9 (10) Enacting any rule, policy, or standard the 10 purpose or effect of which would delay the delivery 11 of mail to or from a government entity. 12 (11) Instituting any hiring freeze. 13 (b) REVERSAL OF POLICIES HINDERING DELIVERY 14 OF MAIL.—The United States Postal Service shall reverse 15 any initiative or action that is causing delay in processing 16 or delivery or non-delivery of the mail. 17 (c) ELECTION MAIL.— 18 (1) POLICY ON POSTMARKS.—It shall be the 19 policy of the United States Postal Service to post- 20 mark, which shall include any imprinted indicia from 21 the Postal Service that indicates the date of receipt, 22 all election mail processed by the Postal Service. 23 (2) SAME-DAY PROCESSING.—The United 24 States Postal Service shall ensure, to the maximum 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:12 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4585.IS S4585 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4585 IS extent practical, that election mail is processed and 1 cleared from any postal facility or post office on the 2 same day on which the election mail is received at 3 the postal facility or post office. 4 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 5 (1) the term ‘‘COVID–19 public health emer- 6 gency’’ means the public health emergency declared 7 by the Secretary of Health and Human Services 8 under section 319 of the Public Health Service Act 9 (42 U.S.C. 247d) on January 31, 2020, with respect 10 to COVID–19, including any renewal of that dec- 11 laration; 12 (2) the term ‘‘election mail’’ means mail con- 13 sisting of— 14 (A) voter registration application forms, 15 completed voter registration application forms, 16 and voter registration cards or similar mate- 17 rials; 18 (B) absentee and other mail-in ballot appli- 19 cation forms, blank absentee and other mail-in 20 ballots, and completed absentee and other mail- 21 in ballots; and 22 (C) other materials relating to an election 23 which are mailed by a State or local election of- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:12 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4585.IS S4585 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4585 IS ficial to individuals who are registered to vote 1 in the election; and 2 (3) the term ‘‘government entity’’ means the 3 Federal Government or any State (as that term is 4 defined in section 311 of title 5, United States 5 Code) or local government and any subdivision 6 thereof. 7 SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATION FOR THE POSTAL 8 SERVICE. 9 There is appropriated, out of any money in the Treas- 10 ury not otherwise appropriated, for the fiscal year ending 11 September 30, 2020, for an additional payment to the 12 Postal Service Fund established under section 2003 of 13 title 39, United States Code, $25,000,000,000, to remain 14 available until expended. Of the amount appropriated 15 under the previous sentence, $15,000,000 shall be trans- 16 ferred to ‘‘United States Postal Service—Office of Inspec- 17 tor General—Salaries and Expenses’’. 18 SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 19 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to alter or oth- 20 erwise effect the terms and conditions of section 3406 of 21 title 39, United States Code (relating to balloting mate- 22 rials under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee 23 Voting Act). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:12 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4585.IS S4585 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4585 IS SEC. 5. BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—The amounts provided by this Act 2 are designated as an emergency requirement pursuant to 3 section 4(g) of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 4 (2 U.S.C. 933(g)). 5 (b) DESIGNATION IN THE SENATE.—In the Senate, 6 this Act is designated as an emergency requirement pursu- 7 ant to section 4112(a) of H. Con. Res. 71 (115th Con- 8 gress), the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal 9 year 2018. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:12 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4585.IS S4585 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS