WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate bill aimed at saving the U.S. Postal Service would make it harder to close thousands of low-revenue post offices and end Saturday mail delivery — steps the struggling agency says are needed to reduce billions in debt and become profitable again.

The measure takes steps to help the mail agency avert bankruptcy as early as this fall, giving it a cash infusion of $11 billion to pay off debt and reduce costs by offering retirementincentives to 100,000 employees. But the bill sidesteps most controversial decisions on postal closings, buying time for lawmakers who would rather avoid the wrath of constituencies in an election year.

The Senate was scheduled to vote as early as Wednesday on a final bill, after first considering amendments that in part could restrict the Postal Service from further cuts to first-class mail delivery. On Tuesday, senators agreed to tack on amendments that would bar the shuttering of rural post offices for a year, give afflicted communities new avenues of appeal and prevent any closings before the November elections.