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As the U.S. Senate is about to be weighed down with the second impeachment of Donald Trump, a bi-partisan push is quietly underway in both chambers to make the U.S. Postal Service profitable again. “This is the kind of common-sense bipartisan legislation that I came to Congress to try and introduce and I’m proud to be one of the folks who helped introduce and write this bill,” said U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, in an interview on Sunday’s Inside Texas Politics. The bill is called the U.S. Postal Service Fairness Act, and, if passed, would wipe away a massive financial

Nearly 50 senators have signed on to a letter pledging to oppose taxpayer funding of abortions. Senate Pro-Life Caucus chair Steve Daines (R-Mont.) announced the letter on Friday, as “a unified message” to Democratic leadership that the 47 signers would “vote to block any bill that would undermine the Hyde Amendment or any other pro-life protections.” “We are united in our resolve to guard against any changes to Federal law that would unsettle nearly half a century of bipartisan consensus against taxpayer funding for abortion on demand, or otherwise threaten the lives of unborn children,” the letter states. The Hyde

There has been one law nipping at the heels of the U.S. Postal Service for the past 15 years. It requires USPS to put money toward retiree health benefits some 50 years ahead of schedule. The mandate has the Postal Service funding benefits for workers it has yet to hire. And the burden has contributed to budget challenges as the USPS cuts staff and reduces post office hours. Montana has frequently been on the short list for cuts. Now, after years of postal workers lobbying Congress to deliver relief, it appears lawmakers might give their stamp of approval to removing

Early flashpoints in the Biden administration’s environmental agenda came to a head last night on the Senate floor, as Republicans used a marathon session of budget votes to put Democrats on the record on drilling and the Keystone XL pipeline. While nonbinding and largely symbolic, the handful of energy and environment votes during the budget resolution “vote-a-rama” that went into this morning’s early hours offered a preview of the legislative fights to come, with Republicans seeking to wield tensions within the Democratic caucus against Biden’s early executive actions. Democrats initially turned the tables on one attack by uniting as a

Two Senate Democrats are facing criticism for voting to defy President Biden and overrule his decision to kill the Keystone XL oil pipeline — before later voting to reverse themselves. Sens. Jon Tester of Montana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia initially voted for a Republican amendment that would have put support for the pipeline in the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill that Democrats are drafting under budget reconciliation. Their votes meant the amendment passed 52-48 just before midnight, threatening to reverse Biden’s decision last month to end construction of the pipeline from Canada, citing environmental concerns but costing thousands