WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States Postal Service was already in rough financial shape before the coronavirus pandemic hit. And now, it’s gotten even worse.

• Postal Service on brink of collapse because of coronavirus and other problems
• Some Democrats want agency bailed out, especially as mail-only elections happen
• Some Republicans think Postal Service needs structural change before money

The Postmaster General released a statement earlier this month that says the virus “will increase the Postal Service’s net operating loss by more than $22 billion dollars over the next eighteen months, and by over $54 billion dollars over the longer term, threatening our ability to operate.”

The reason?

“The Postal Service relies on the sale of postal products and services [not tax dollars] to fund our operations,” the statement reads, “and these sales are plummeting as a result of the pandemic.” 

In the midst of this crisis for the agency, the Ohio primary is now scheduled for April 28 — because of the coronavirus — and it will be happening almost entirely by mail. And some lawmakers think November’s general election could be done completely by mail as well.

“The Postal Service is key for individuals, it’s key for businesses, and it’s especially important when it comes to the election this fall,” Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said in a recent video conference interview.

Brown, who once served as Ohio secretary of state, said because of the pandemic, he feels every voter should be allowed to vote by mail in November. And if that were to happen, the Postal Service would play a key role — especially in rural parts of Ohio where FedEx or UPS may not go.

Representative Tim Ryan (D, 13th Congressional District) agreed a bailout is necessary. 

“The burden on the Postal Service is something that’s much greater than the private sector companies,” Ryan said during a virtual press conference last week. “I believe we need to help them, and I believe we need to put more money behind the mail-in ballots going into November.”

In a recent letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), the Democratic chair of the House Oversight Committee asked that Republicans support giving the Postal Service $25 billion in emergency funds, eliminating its existing debt, and requiring it to prioritize medical deliveries like prescriptions.

Rep. Warren Davidson (R, 8th Congressional District) thinks the Postal Service has to prove it will make significant operational changes before Congress bails the agency out.

“What I want is for them to operate profitably,” he said in a Skype interview last Friday. “And I think we should insist on a plan to do that profitably if we’re going to continue to give them money. It’s not responsible for the taxpayers to continue funding a place that has effectively said we’re completely indifferent as to whether we make money or not.”

Congress approved a $10 billion loan for the Postal Service in the last coronavirus relief package it passed, but the agency’s leaders said it was nowhere near enough.

There’s also growing concern over safety because the Postal Service employs over 600,000 people, and more than 1,000 have tested positive for the virus.

Rep. Marcia Fudge (D, 11th Congressional District) said postal workers need to be treated as essential, and their pay and access to personal protective equipment should reflect that.

And as the chair of a subcommittee on elections, she said a bailout is needed to ensure November’s election happens fairly — especially if it’s only by mail.

“We don’t know where we’re going to be in November, and what we don’t want is states to give us an excuse to not participate in this democracy by allowing their people to vote,” Fudge said in a phone interview last week.

But Rep. Steve Stivers (R, 15th Congressional District) doesn’t think the Postal Service should be getting special treatment.

“I don’t think we should just use this as an excuse to get a bunch more money to the Postal Service, but to the extent they’re impacted, I want to look at them the same way we would look at any other business,” he said in a Skype interview on Tuesday.

Ryan, Fudge and Rep. Joyce Beatty (D, 3rd Congressional District) wrote a letter to House leadership last week asking for a bailout.

It’s not yet clear if any future coronavirus relief packages will include more money for the agency.

Correction: The original version of this story referred to Rep. Fudge as the former chair of a subcommittee on elections. She is still chairing the subcommittee.