Despite Congress's political gridlock, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) expects action on a comprehensive postal bill to address its financial issues on the Senate floor “within the next two weeks,” said Ron Stroman, deputy Postmaster General at the USPS, during the executive briefing session at the National Postal Forum (NPF) in Orlando, Fla.

Stroman singled out Nevada Senator Harry Reid as a major supporter in the USPS's efforts to push the bill to the Senate. “We have a good shot of getting the House to take action,” Stroman said. “If we get that done, we can get to a conference. In that conference I think we can resolve a lot of our differences.”

Stroman identified three issues within Congress that account for the current indecision.

“The Senate tells us we have to move slower. The House tells us we have to move faster,” Stroman said. “Trying to navigate between those two has been a major stumbling block for us.” He added that political consensus is necessary for the USPS to move forward.

The second problem, Stroman said, is that ironically the USPS might not have enough of a financial crisis to spur Congress into action. “All we hear about is: ‘When will you run out of money? At what date? That's when we can get something done,'” Stroman recalled.