{
  "id": "R40550",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "R40550",
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  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
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      "id": 388220,
      "date": "2011-05-27",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T00:48:51.949775",
      "title": "Sending Mail to Members of the Armed Forces at Reduced or Free Postage: An Overview",
      "summary": "Members of the Armed Forces on duty in designated combat areas can send personal correspondence, free of postage, to addresses in the United States. However, there is not a comparable policy to permit individuals in the United States to send letters and packages to troops serving overseas free of charge.\nH.R. 1935 has been introduced in the 112th Congress to establish a new, free postage benefit. Military personnel who are deployed in Afghanistan or Iraq, or who are hospitalized as a result of such deployment, would receive one postage voucher or coupon per month. The recipient may then give this voucher to a person in the United States, who could use it to send a letter or a parcel to a deployed member of the Armed Forces. Similar legislation was introduced but not enacted in the previous three Congresses.\nThe federal government does subsidize the postage an individual pays to send mail to troops. A sender is charged only for the cost of the domestic portion of the delivery\u2014the Department of Defense pays the cost to move the mail from the United States to troops overseas. Additionally, since October 2008 the U.S. Postal Service has offered a discounted package service to families wishing to send packages to members of the Armed Services stationed overseas.\nThis report will be updated to reflect significant legislative action.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
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      "formats": [
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    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc227644/",
      "id": "R40550_2011Jan14",
      "date": "2011-01-14",
      "retrieved": "2013-11-05T18:07:05",
      "title": "Sending Mail to Members of the Armed Forces at Reduced or Free Postage: An Overview",
      "summary": "This report looks the background, and current methods of, sending mail to troops serving overseas via subsidized postage.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
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      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Communications",
          "name": "Communications"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Postal rates and revenues",
          "name": "Postal rates and revenues"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Postal service",
          "name": "Postal service"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Defense policy",
          "name": "Defense policy"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Armed forces abroad",
          "name": "Armed forces abroad"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Civil-military relations",
          "name": "Civil-military relations"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc689245/",
      "id": "R40550_2009Sep29",
      "date": "2009-09-29",
      "retrieved": "2015-08-03T15:06:47",
      "title": "Sending Mail to Members of the Armed Forces at Reduced or Free Postage: An Overview",
      "summary": "This report discusses proposed legislation to establish a free-mail-to-troops postage benefit. Various bills introduced in Congress would  provide members of the Armed Forces serving overseas with free-postage vouchers every month. Recipients of these vouchers would be able to transfer them to family members or other persons in the United States, who then could use the vouchers to mail a letter or package to the troops postage-free.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
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          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Communications",
          "name": "Communications"
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        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Postal rates and revenues",
          "name": "Postal rates and revenues"
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        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Postal service",
          "name": "Postal service"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Defense policy",
          "name": "Defense policy"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Armed forces abroad",
          "name": "Armed forces abroad"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Civil-military relations",
          "name": "Civil-military relations"
        }
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    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc807459/",
      "id": "R40550_2009May19",
      "date": "2009-05-19",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "Sending Mail to Members of the Armed Forces at Reduced or Free Postage: An Overview",
      "summary": null,
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
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          "filename": "files/20090519_R40550_18820682098ee7ea7360671bfba3b459712fa3ab.html"
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      "topics": []
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc689476/",
      "id": "R40550_2009Apr27",
      "date": "2009-04-27",
      "retrieved": "2015-08-03T15:06:47",
      "title": "Sending Mail to Members of the Armed Forces at Reduced or Free Postage: An Overview",
      "summary": "This report discusses proposed legislation to establish a free-mail-to-troops postage benefit. Various bills introduced in Congress would  provide members of the Armed Forces serving overseas with free-postage vouchers every month. Recipients of these vouchers would be able to transfer them to family members or other persons in the United States, who then could use the vouchers to mail a letter or package to the troops postage-free.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
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          "format": "HTML",
          "filename": "files/20090427_R40550_b1f0cbec9862c8955cc1398a7c07351ff561dc8d.html"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Communications",
          "name": "Communications"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Postal rates and revenues",
          "name": "Postal rates and revenues"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Postal service",
          "name": "Postal service"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Defense policy",
          "name": "Defense policy"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Armed forces abroad",
          "name": "Armed forces abroad"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Civil-military relations",
          "name": "Civil-military relations"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Intelligence and National Security",
    "National Defense"
  ]
}