Sponsors (218)
Introduced February 6, 2025 by Brian K. Fitzpatrick · Last progress February 6, 2025
The bill increases mail and postal-worker security through federal funding, prosecutorial focus, and tougher sentencing rules, but does so at substantial federal cost and with risks of uneven implementation, diverted resources, and harsher penalties that could raise equity and discretion concerns.
Postal workers and mail users nationwide will see reduced mail theft and more secure deliveries because the bill authorizes $1.4 billion per year for high-security collection boxes and electronic mailbox keys.
Victims, postal employees, and law enforcement will get stronger federal prosecutorial attention and coordination—including designated AUSAs—to speed investigations and improve conviction prospects for mail-related crimes.
Postal employees will receive stronger sentencing protections (including coverage of dangerous conduct in immediate flight) and the bill forces a near-term guideline change, which may deter assaults on carriers and produce more uniform federal sentences.
Taxpayers (and/or USPS) will face substantial new costs—about $7 billion over five years—plus potential higher incarceration costs if sentencing recommendations rise, increasing federal outlays.
Granting USPS broad discretion over how and where to deploy security upgrades risks uneven rollout and could divert funds from other USPS priorities or maintenance, harming local services.
Creating designated AUSAs and a uniform federal focus may increase staffing and administrative costs, divert prosecutorial resources from other local priorities, and federalize matters some districts previously handled locally.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes $1.4B/year (FY2026–2030) for USPS security upgrades, creates a DOJ postal‑crime AUSA in every district, and raises sentencing for assaults on postal workers.
Provides the U.S. Postal Service $1.4 billion per year for five years to install high‑security mail collection boxes and replace older universal mailbox keys with electronic keys, directs the Department of Justice to assign a dedicated Assistant U.S. Attorney in every federal judicial district to coordinate postal-crime prosecutions, and directs the U.S. Sentencing Commission to increase penalties so assaults or robberies against postal employees are treated like assaults on law enforcement. It also includes a nonbinding congressional statement urging vigorous prosecution of attacks on letter carriers.