Senate panel to consider Postal Service rate hike proposal FILE - In this Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013, file photo, U.S. Postal Service letter carrier, Jamesa Euler, delivers mail, in Atlanta. The Postal Service's proposal to raise the price of mailing a letter to 49 cents is sure to face scrutiny from lawmakers as a Senate panel considers bipartisan legislation to overhaul the cash-strapped agency. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe's appearance Thursday before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee comes one day after the post office said it wanted to raise the price of a first-class stamp by 3 cents. He's pressing lawmakers to act quickly on legislation to fix his agency, which expects to lose $6 billion this year. The Postal Service's Board of Governors, in its rate hike request, cited the agency's "precarious financial condition" and the uncertain prospects for postal overhaul legislation in Congress. "Of the options currently available to the Postal Service to align costs and revenues, increasing postage prices is a last resort that reflects extreme financial challenges," the board's chairman, Mickey Barnett, wrote customers. Under federal law, the post office cannot raise its prices more than the rate of inflation unless it gets approval from the commission. As part of the rate increase request, the cost for each additional ounce of first-class mail would increase a penny, to 21 cents, while the price of mailing a postcard would also rise by 1 cent, to 34 cents. The cost to mail a letter to an international destination would increase 5 cents, to $1.15. The Postal Service also said it would request price increases totaling 5.9 percent for bulk mail, periodicals and package service rates, according to a filing to be made with the commission Thursday. Media and marketing businesses that rely on postal services say a big increase in rates could hurt them and lower postal volume and revenues. Rafe Morrissey, the Greeting Card Association's vice president of postal affairs, said the rate increases were "no substitute for common-sense, structural reforms" and the group hoped they would be rejected. The post office is seeking help from Congress to turn around its finances. Barnett said the increases, if approved, would generate $2 billion annually for his agency. The Postal Service unsuccessfully sought an emergency 5.6 percent rate increase in 2010, citing the recession. The commission acknowledged that the recession had hurt revenues but said the rate request was more of an attempt to address long-term structural problems. Barnett said the post office would reconsider its rate request if Congress passes legislation to put the agency's finances back on track. But prospects in Congress are unclear. A bipartisan bill in the Senate would end Saturday mail delivery after one year and cease door-to-door delivery for new residential and business addresses. It missed two of those payments in 2012, one deferred from the previous year, and is expected to miss another at the end of this month, when its fiscal year ends. The Senate bill would change the method by which the retiree health costs are calculated, as well as allow the agency to ship alcoholic beverages and compete with private shippers. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee approved a bill this year that would allow the Postal Service to gradually shift from door-to-door delivery to cluster box and curbside delivery. No Democrats voted for the measure. The bill, introduced by the chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., also would end Saturday delivery and change how pension and retiree health costs are calculated. Issa said that the proposed rate increases were merely a short-term solution and that the agency's "costly, inefficient delivery" system needs to be fixed. Such increases could hurt businesses that rely on the post office, he said.