White House backs part of USPS request

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- The White House has indicated it is backing a request by the U.S. Postal Service to end Saturday mail delivery and raise postage rates.

Those two proposals are part of President Obama's deficit reduction recommendations but two other Postal Service requests to Congress are not included, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.

The administration apparently does not favor allowing the Postal Service to break labor contracts and lay off as many as 120,000 employees.

The White House said the proposals it backs would provide the Postal Service with more than $20 billion in savings in the next few years and shrink the federal deficit by more than $18 billion in the next decade.

It has called on Congress to forgive the $5.4 billion payment the Postal Service was to make this year to pre-fund the retirement of its workers.

Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe thanked Obama for presenting what he termed "helpful recommendations."