The US Postal Service — which in the last year has lost nearly $16 billion, has reached its legal borrowing limit and has twice defaulted on required payments to the federal government — is hoping the newly sworn-in Congress can keep it from extinction.

As more people use e-mail and huge payments for retiree benefits take a toll, the USPS is losing $25 million a day and could run out of cash in about nine months, observers say.