House Democrats tell Biden to fire Postal Service board to oust DeJoy

Members ‘silent in the face of catastrophic and unacceptable failures’ during Trump’s ‘unsuccessful gambit to influence a presidential election’ with attacks on mail-in ballots, lawmakers write

A group of more than 40 Democratic members of the House of Representatives are pressuring Joe Biden to fire and replace members of the US Postal Service Board of Governors, citing “gross mismanagement”, “rampant” conflicts of interest and ongoing “self-inflicted” delays in mail delivery.

“It is unconscionable that this board could continue to support” Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, they said.

Their letter follows repeated requests among House and Senate Democrats for Mr DeJoy to step down, or for the president to remove members of the board, whose membership is made up of Donald Trump’s appointees.

The board has the authority to oust MrDeJoy, who has faced routine criticism since his appointment last June for overseeing service cuts and delivery issues in an unprecedented election year during the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr DeJoy has not indicated he’s ready to leave his post. He has repeatedly apologised to members of Congress for mail delays and service cuts, but he told lawmakers last month to “get used to me.”

In a scathing letter to the president on Thursday, House Democrats accused the board of remaining “silent in the face of catastrophic and unacceptable failures” throughout the public health crisis and 2020 presidential election, during which Mr Trump “blatantly misused” the agency as part of an “unsuccessful gambit to influence a presidential election” as he undermined vote-by-mail efforts for months, the lawmakers wrote.

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US Reps Gerald Connolly, Earl Blumenauer and Bill Pascrell, along with 41 of their Democratic colleagues in the House, told the president that “it is time to remove all governors and start over with a board vested with the expertise and acumen this nation needs in its Postal Service leadership.”

In early February, according to the most recent delivery statistics, the agency delivered 79.9 per cent of first-class mail items on time. At the end of December, during the Christmas season, that rate was 63.9 per cent. The agency aims for at least 96 per cent.

“Because of their lax oversight, many families struggling through the pandemic still await delivery of their stimulus checks, credit card statements, or event holiday cards,” the lawmakers wrote.

On 9 February, Ron Bloom – a former Obama administration official – replaced Robert “Mike” Duncan as the chair of the board of governors, signalling changes in leadership under the new administration.

This week, the president nominated three people to the Senate to fill the remaining open seats on the nine-member board.

Mr DeJoy is set to announce the agency’s 10-year strategic plan, along with funding requests, in the coming days.

He appeared at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing earlier this month requesting more money for his unreleased plan, saying that the public agency must “recast that expectation of what it is that we’re able to do” after financial losses it endured over the last several years.

Proposals could include cutbacks to first-class mail – which include letters, bills and other mail sent to local addresses – and the elimination of two-day deliveries. That mail would instead by lumped into mail with current three- and five-day tiers, the same as nonlocal mail.

The House Committee on Oversight and Reform will hold a meeting on the agency on 24 March.