After passing a series of multi-trillion dollar COVID-relief measures, Congress has finally provided some financial support for the Postal Service with the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.

The bill changes the $10 billion loan to the Postal Service authorized by the CARES Act (enacted March 27, 2020) into a grant.

Also, the STOP Act from October 2018, requires the Postal Service to receive from foreign postal administrations electronic information about the sender, recipient, and contents of 100% of inbound parcels, and transmit to Customs and Border Protection, by December 31, 2020.  Most foreign posts aren’t able to provide that data yet, and the USPS and Customs and Border Protection have encountered other challenges in meeting the deadline. This extends the cut-off date to March 15, 2021.