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 “The proposals put forward by the administration to date have been insufficient,” Mr. Carper said. If changes are not made, Donahoe told reporters, “we think that around the August, September time frame next year we would be out of cash.” 
 
 The Postal Service is fast approaching its borrowing limit of $15 billion, leaving officials concerned about a first-ever USPS default. Postal officials say a major reason for the postal service’s financial crisis — it has lost $20 billion over the last four years — is a 2006 law requiring the post office to pay an average of $5.5 billion a year for 10 years to underwrite 75 years of health coverage for future retirees. The agency has asked Congress to pass a special law overturning no-layoff provisions in its union contracts. USPS has indicated that it wants the authority to lay off tens of thousands of workers over the next three years, despite labor contracts that contain no layoff provisions, and announced that it is looking into closing thousands of local branches. He said the administration would release a more comprehensive proposal in coming weeks “to ensure a sustainable future for the postal service,” one that would be part of the broader $1.5 trillion deficit reduction package that the President Obama has promised to send to Congress. Ms. Collins added, “I just don’t understand why the administration doesn’t have a plan to put before us today, given the dire straits that we’re in.” 
 
 Several senators from rural states attacked the postal service’s proposals to close many post offices and to end Saturday delivery, saying it would hurt rural Americans disproportionately and would hurt those who rely on mail delivery of prescriptions and newspapers.
– President Obama intends to swoop to the rescue of the ailing US Postal Service—or at least try, reports the New York Times. The White House yesterday announced that it would push for legislation giving the USPS a three-month reprieve on the $5.5 billion it’s supposed to pay on Sept. 30 for future retiree health benefits, saving it at least temporarily from a humiliating default. Even that won’t save the service for long, however—the postmaster general recently testified that, even with the reprieve, they’d run out of money by next July or August. So Obama will also unveil a longer-term plan to save the post office as part of his deficit reduction plan, the Hill reports. He has not yet, however, supported the service’s call to be refunded $50 billion it says it has overpaid into a federal pension plan. The administration says it’s still reviewing that proposal.