According to a new GAO report, the USPS must continue to provide Saturday mail delivery under the terms of the Continuing Resolution:
On February 6, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) announced that beginning the week of August 5, it would reduce mail delivery to street addresses from six days a week to five days a week, despite a provision in the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2012, which required USPS to continue six-day delivery and rural delivery of mail at not less than the 1983 level. USPS asserted that the six-day delivery provision does not apply during the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2013, because the Continuing Resolution appropriated no funds to USPS. GAO concludes that the six-day delivery provision continues to apply to USPS during the Continuing Resolution. Absent specific legislative language, a continuing resolution maintains the status quo regarding government funding and operations. Although the provision at issue here is an operational directive, not an appropriation, we see no language in the Continuing Resolution to indicate that Congress did not expect the provision to continue to apply during the Continuing Resolution.
