US House Democrats urge Biden to name new U.S. Postal board members

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Reuters

February 1, 2024 3:27 PM EST


WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - More than 80 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday urged President Joe Biden to nominate two candidates to open seats on the U.S. Postal Board of Governors, complaining about slow deliveries and increased costs. The letter, led by Representative Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the committee overseeing the Postal Service, noted there have been five stamp price hikes since 2020 including the latest increase on Jan. 21 that boosted prices to 68 cents from 66 cents.

The letter, first revealed by Reuters, urged Biden to "choose two candidates who will be wholly committed to lowering costs for everyday Americans." Two governors' terms on the board expired in December. USPS in November reported a $6.5 billion net loss for the 12 months ending Sept. 30 and said it will not break even in 2024 as first-class mail fell to the lowest volume since 1968. "Unfortunately, the Postal Service currently suffers from slow rates of delivery service and increased costs," said the letter.

Other signatories include Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi, Rosa DeLauro, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Gerald Connolly and Maxine Waters. "The actions of current postal leadership are deeply concerning. Rather than exploring new sources of revenue, it has continued price increases to 'uncomfortable rates' around the country," it said, citing earlier comments on price hikes from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.

USPS has been aggressively hiking stamp prices and is in the middle of a 10-year restructuring plan that aims to eliminate $160 billion in predicted losses over the next decade. A White House official said the administration "will consult with Congress to fill the two vacant seats, as we have done for all board nominees to date."

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-house-democrats-urge-biden-name-new-us-postal-board-members-2024-02-01/

---

Link to Rep. Jamie Raskin / House Oversight and Accountability Committee Democrats PRESS RELEASE - Ranking Member Raskin and Rep. Krishnamoorthi Urge Swift Nomination, Confirmation to Fill Two Vacancies on the Postal Service’s Board of Governors

Link to letter (PDF) is here.

[brooklynite]

1. Observation: nobody said DeJoy was trying to rig the election.

[Pinback]

21. And your point is?

The OP doesn’t make that claim. The letter from the Congressional representatives to Biden doesn’t make that claim. The Reuters article linked from the OP does’t quote anyone making that claim. Pray tell, enlighten me as to what I’m missing.

[brooklynite]

25. The OP DOESN'T make that claim. People here do.

I choose to stick to reality, rather than conspiracy theories.

[jaxexpat]

29. So, what's that bit of irrelevance about then?

[OMGWTF]

40. Conspiracy theory????

DeJoyless destroyed millions of dollars of mail sorting equipment and removed a fkton of mailboxes right before the last presidential election. He has SHOWN us who he is, there is no need for conspiracy theories. He needs to GTFO yesterday.

[brooklynite]

42. And if you read carefully, you'd have learned from OTHER PEOPLE HERE (not me)...

...that eliminating letter-sorting equipment was because of the drop in letters being handled by the post office. A growing share of the Post Office business in packages, which the equipment doesn't work with.

You'd also know there there were no reports of significant delays in the delivery of mail-in ballots.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218465580#post6
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218465580#post38

[BumRushDaShow]

50. "You'd also know there there were no reports of significant delays in the delivery of mail-in ballots. "

That's because Democrats in Congress rode Dejoy's ass in mid-August 2020 and ordered that the chamber be brought back into session from their break to have him testify - https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/trump-denies-delaying-mail-usps-head-slated-testify-congress-n1236974

And he did testify under duress 4 days after the above article was published - https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/dejoy-testifies-congress-commits-delivering-election-ballots-time-n1237674

And you do realize that Celerity lives in Sweden right?

[sprinkleeninow]

27. Translated: dejoy messing with/disrupting mail-in ballots. nt

[DENVERPOPS]

43. My first thought

nobody said DeJoy was trying to rig the election and mail in voting......ONCE AGAIN.

He continues his skulduggery to sabotage the USPS in every way he can.

Can anyone tell me why Biden can't shit can him/???????????????????????

There must be some way to stop his Right Wing Corporate Antics, and begin to un-do all that has been done.

DeJoy's goal is to obliterate the USPS AND destroy one of the largest Unions in the U.S. Once destroyed, it throws EVERYTHING to UPS, FedEx, etc.....ie: Corporate control...........THEN just wait and see how much it costs you to send a single letter to anywhere in America, especially the Rural Areas..................AND, how long it takes................

As it is, UPS, FedEx etc are able to dump the most expensive package deliveries to Rural America & Alaska on the USPS for last mile delivery and avoid their corporations having to shoulder the cost of doing so.....

Last I heard, Corporations could deliver a shrink wrapped pallet of goods weighing up to 1000 pounds to a USPS facility in Seattle, and the USPS had to deliver it anywhere in Alaska for a hundred bucks.........

Privatize the Profits and publicize the expenses............A Corporate Republicans Wet Dream............

Simplest definition of FASCISM: The merger of Government and Corporations........and we are on the threshold of that happening.....

[brooklynite]

44. That's a lot of conspiracy theories in one post...

Maybe the members of Congress didn't claim DeJoy didn't interfere in the election because...he didn't interfere in the election?

DeJoy is effectively a corporate President, answerable to a Board. He's implementing corporate policies to make a changing Postal Service (many fewer letters, many more packages). He doesn't get to arbitrarily decide on policies at your local post office.

[DENVERPOPS]

58. You are probably right

And maybe would be right about all the mail sorting machines he ordered torn out of the post offices just before the mass of mail in votes arrived.......and taken to a location where they were immediately destroyed, (for "some" reason?)

And maybe that he doesn't own/operate a fleet of trucks that transports mail, and there is no conflict of interest in doing that.............

I am old, and probably have a poor memory. But you may want to check into that "special" rate congress forced upon the USPS for the palletized shipping of stuff anywhere in Alaska. I used to ship lots of stuff to our Ak branch decades ago and it was a steal compared to shipping it just "air freight" at the airlines rate. They may have changed it, they may have raised the rate, they may have stopped it, but at one time it was used.

[brooklynite]

59. As I pointed out elsewhere

…OTHERS have explained that letter sorting machines were disposed of because the Postal Service handles far fewer letters. And there are no claimed of mail in ballots being lost of delayed in the mail.

[pwb]

2. DeJoy is moving all the mail by truck.

He comes from a trucking back ground. Good thing he was not a horse breeder, we would be back to the pony express.

[Grasswire2]

3. my own personal experience

I sent an envelope of several documents to eastern Canada, mailed from here in the PNW by the most expensive manner. Priority. Cost me $45 to mail.

DeJoy sent it BY TRUCK across the continent. It took two months to get there.

[maxsolomon]

8. I sent a CD to a town outside Santiago Chile

it took a month to get there, but tracking showed it had got to Santiago Airport in just a few days. Same experience for shipping to the east coast of Italy. USPS isn't at fault once it's in foreign countries.

Within the States, they do a great job - in my experience. My Media Mail shipments usually get there early - and they travel by ground. I've never seen them take more than a week.

[BComplex]

24. We recently had a wedding, late October. We sent out "Save the Date" stamped envelopes on Feb. 6.

I got one back undeliverable - wrong address AFTER THE LATE OCTOBER WEDDING!!! Nine months! Sent from a relative helping with wedding things in Phoenix, to Greensboro, North Carolina with a (near Raleigh) North Carolina return address. It took 9 months to get back to the address clearly posted on the return address.

[maxsolomon]

36. I recently got a envelope from Papua New Guinea addressed to a lady named Flora.

Felt like it had earrings in it.

Correct address, but, you know, I'm not named Flora and I didn't order anything from Papua New Guinea.

Since it came from the other side of the planet, I tried to see if I could find her through other means (FB, other combos of my street, etc.). I dawdled for a month and then put it back in the mail as "No Such Addressee".

I'm not blaming USPS for that month.

[NNadir]

12. That's nothing. We had our mail opened, the check enclosed washed, and cashed for a huge amount.

It was originally for our gas bill. Fortunately our bank caught the fraud.

[maxsolomon]

35. You'll notice that USPS mailboxes are being replaced with high-security ones.

Check-stealing is rampant right now.

[NNadir]

41. A "high security" mailbox is the type of mailbox my wife used. Our local post office was closed for a time...

...for "security" reasons, unexplained, but real.

The theft was real and it clearly happened within the post office. Two checks, one to the gas company, the other to the electric company never made it to the offices for which they were intended, but only one was washed and had the figures changed.

[maxsolomon]

45. Take your complaint to them.

If it "clearly happened within the post office", they need to know they've a thief in the ranks.

Never considered there'd be "high crime" post offices...

[brooklynite]

32. I don't understand why people imagine that DeJoy can unilaterally change any and all UPSP procedures...

....and is apparently personally responsible for their holiday cards arriving on time.

That's not how businesses work.

[Oopsie Daisy]

4. 68-cents for door-to-door delivery is still a good deal!

This is an old article, but it helps to illustrate my point.

https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2020/08/us-postal-rates-versus-other-countries/

[LudwigPastorius]

48. I did the calculations, and...

even with the latest raise in prices, a first class stamp costs the same as it did in the 70s (when adjusted for inflation).

[Oopsie Daisy]

52. Wow! Thanks for doing that!! It's good to know!

I'm glad you thought of it.

[DENVERPOPS]

61. Sadly

Very few wages have kept up with inflation..........

A friend in 1980 was a journeyman checker at Safeway.......He was making 22 bucks an hour and change.....Maximum 30 hour week so he didn't get ANY benefits, by the way.......

I asked a couple of checkers at Safeway what journeyman checker's earned now......both were in the 16 dollar an hour range, and still max 30 hour week so Safeway can get out of paying for ANY benefits................

Side note: In 1980 I had a friend that was a Journeyman Electrician here in Denver. His wife didn't have to work, he could afford two cars, mortgage on a middle class home, pay for a two week vacation to somewhere, and afford to send his kids to college if they worked summers to help out.........His pay was 22.00 an hour with 26% Fringe......Vacation, Holidays, Health Insurance, etc
Reagan's PATCO Union Busting was the shot heard all over the U.S. as far as Trade Unions were concerned......Two weeks after PATCO the Denver Electrical Union got creamed, and my friend had a choice of not working or making 12 an hour and no fringe.....He also told me that the most frightening thing was that when the Union was in place, if an employer asked you to do something un-safe without safety precautions/equipment the Union would shut the company down via "filing a grievance". With no Union, he said you did what you were told, or you were fired with no one to complain to. Regan EMASCULATED the National Labor Relations Board, so it did no good to look for someone on the workers side, or enforce existing laws put in place to regulate Corporations treatment of employees.

[Lonestarblue]

5. A friend sent me a card in December. I have yet to receive it.

DeJoy has done nothing to improve the postal service, and those two spots on the board should not have been empty for this long.

[maxsolomon]

10. I sent xmas cards in December, using old stamps I inherited from my wife's aunt.

combos of 24, 10, 5, 3, & 1 cent stamps from dog knows how long ago. every single one got there in 3 days or less.

there might be another reason it didn't arrive other than USPS incompetence. addressing, for instance.

[moonscape]

11. I got a Christmas card in mid-Jan, so

at least better than you.

[Rebl2]

19. Still haven't

received a Christmas card from my cousin, who is local, that was sent mid December. That same day I should have received information from my lawyer (local) and a local bill. I have informed delivery that gives me update on what I should be receiving. It’s all probably under a machine that processes mail or destroyed in the machine. Know someone that worked there for over thirty years.

[jimfields33]

51. I sent out cards and some arrived the next day.

All arrived by three days. Dang cheap to send something six states away.

[liberalla]

6. YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!

Come on President Biden, let's do this!
It's the right, the best and the smart thing to do.

I don't like DeJoy, and I don't trust him at all.

[Abigail_Adams]

9. To me, the whole point of getting good members on the USPS board

is to remove DeJoy.

[usaf-vet]

18. Exactly!! And I believe he is doing whatever he can to disrupt mailed in ballots. He should have been gone by now.

[Rebl2]

20. Remember when

Dejoy said he was going to slow down local mail a couple years ago? I do. Ends up all mail has been slowed down. A box I sent priority to my sister took over a week. Midwest to west coast. He needs to go-two years ago!

[liberalla]

23. Agree totally!

[progressoid]

39. Biden needs DeJoy. He helped get the Postal Service Reform Act passed. And more...

The notion that DeJoy, 65, would help advance a key Democratic agenda item would have seemed unfathomable a few years ago. But to the astonishment of many in Washington, the man Democrats once denounced as a threat to American democracy has become one of their most important allies in government. Defying the far right, he delivered more than 500 million COVID-19 test kits to Americans in the winter of 2022. Crossing conservatives last December, he agreed to transition the Postal Service’s entire fleet to electric vehicles by 2026. DeJoy’s capstone collaboration with Democrats was the Postal Service Reform Act, which is arguably the most bipartisan piece of major legislation in the Biden era, drawing 10 more GOP Senate votes than the $1 trillion infrastructure bill.

...https://time.com/6263424/louis-dejoy-trump-election-postal-reform/

Louis DeJoy: From Trump villain to Biden's clean energy buddy

The postmaster general was accused of masterminding an attempt to steal the election for former President Donald Trump by subverting mail-in voting in the midst of the pandemic. He was hauled up to Capitol Hill to defend his policies. When Joe Biden won, it was generally assumed that his days were numbered.

Now, nearly three years later, DeJoy isn’t just still standing atop the U.S. Postal Service, he’s become a critical player in Biden’s environmental agenda, striking a partnership with the president’s green guru, John Podesta, as USPS considers an environmental renaissance of its fleet.

It’s a remarkable change of script for one of the more memorable side characters of the Trump years. And it produced one of the most unlikely pairings in Washington D.C., something that the camps will privately acknowledge even as they’re loath to discuss it personally. Asked repeatedly about their good-natured relationship, both DeJoy and Podesta declined to comment.

...https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/13/how-louis-dejoy-went-from-democratic-nightmare-fuel-to-biden-clean-energy-player-00110945

[efhmc]

47. I thought we were just waiting for the board members to be majority libs/Dems and then he would go.

Did I miss something? On edit: Read some of the other posts and looks like I was way behind.

[Hope22]

7. Any day now!

So many questions!

[orleans]

13. come on, joe! jamie raskin has some good advice! nt

[slightlv]

14. I received an invoice for part of my House Insurance

It said payment is due on Feb 3. I just got the invoice yesterday. This is opposite to my car insurance notice that came in two months early. Made a call to my insurer, they tracked back the house insurance notice and found it'd been mailed on January 12! So, to cover my butt, from now on the insurer will not only be mailing me an invoice, but also sending a text. I figure one or the other will get to me. Better than trusting I'll sort it out from all the spam in email.

But this mail delivery is ridiculous. It used to be you could count on anything you sent to get to the addressee within 5 days -- usually by the 3rd day it'd land in their mailbox. It was consistent enough you could count on it. Today? You have no idea when anything is going to get there. I'm not as concerned about cost as I am delivery.

In addition, it's not unusual for us to have mail delivered early in the afternoon, and then also into the evening... like at 8pm. I've never seen that before now.

Last night, hubby brought in some mail around 8:30. He was outside as it was being delivered into our mailbox by UPS! So yes, DeJoy has got some contracts to deliver mail... but the quickest, surest method doesn't seem to be his driving concern (pardon the pun).

[keopeli]

15. The "White House Official" comments as though this is business as usual and just wait your turn, Congress. NOT!

This has been an issue since at least 2020 if not much longer. DeJoy is a 'good ol boy' republican that is hell bent on killing the USPS. He's slowed down USPS delivery significantly, both in my personal experience and by way of research and journalism nationwide. He invested in gas guzzling new vehicles instead of green electric machines. He scrapped perfectly good gigantic sorting machines without a plan to replace them. He has raised rates repeatedly, knowing this will do nothing to cover the cost overruns but will discourage use of the USPS. He is making a mint with Amazon and other services by partnering in their delivery, yet still finds the need to repeatedly raise rates.

DeJoy needs to GO! Does the White House not remember the horrors he caused during covid when vote-by-mail became critical? If they need to be reminded, I'm sure we can put a group letter/petition together. This may not be the war in Ukraine, but it is still critical to a free and fair election in 2024. DeJoy must be replaced today!

[SCantiGOP]

16. Yes, do it now Joe

I thought this would be something that would get resolved in the first few months of the new Administration, so we could get a professional in the Director’s job.

[jaxexpat]

30. Me too, and I find the fact it's not remedied already troubling.

Someone in the Whitehouse needs to explain this, believably. Who the hell's playing games here and why?

[The Mouth]

17. It is using the enemy's terms to describe operating expenses and such as "losses"

The postal service is not supposed to run a profit or break even, it is a utility, a service for ALL citizens. We don't bloviate about the military 'not making a profit', nor NASA, nor any cabinet department.

Every American should be able to send any letter or other item to any other American and a cost that should be trivial to even the poorest of the poor.

[soldierant]

22. The USPS has no problem at least breaking even and usually showing a profit when it is efficiently run.

But it's more than that. People have started to actively hate the USPS. And people just will not deal with provider whom they hate.

[dalton99a]

26. The mail theft epidemic is making Americans distrust the USPS

And DeJoy is not doing anything about it

Get rid of the bum

[Nululu]

28. Dump the bum

I've lost a ballot in the mail. We lost a voter's pamphlet. I had 2 Christmas cards tampered with. They were thick with letters.

Dejoy fired and diminished the postal inspectors and police groups.

[PTL_Mancuso]

31. Look who pays for the mis-governance of junk-mail-loving USPS

[excerpted from linked article]

First-class mail volume fell 6.1% in 2023 to 46 billion pieces and is down 53% since 2006, but revenue increased by $515 million because of higher stamp prices.

Stamp prices are up 36% since early 2019. First-class mail, used by most people to send letters and pay bills, is the highest revenue-generating mail class, accounting for $24.5 billion, or 31% of USPS 2023 revenue.

[Sky Jewels]

33. I'm glad a spotlight is finally being put on this, but

I don't understand why it wasn't addressed long ago.

[BumRushDaShow]

37. Schumer has been prioritizing getting the judicial nominees through confirmations and final votes

while dealing with the big increase in GOP blocks of Biden's nominees (let alone the Stuporville military promotion block fiasco).

Of the 2 vacancies, one has a hold-over person in there and the other will be a new term-limit vacancy IIRC.

[former9thward]

53. The majority of the Board are Biden appointees.

Without the current two vacancies. There is no reason to think another two are going to change policy.

[BumRushDaShow]

54. Just stop.

We keep going around and around on this including the last time this came up.

The 2 vacancies were 45 appointees and while still there, were, along with a sympathetic Biden appointee (R), controlling the narratives in there. At some point they left during their holdover year in 2023 leaving the seats vacant. There are still 2 more 45 appointees on the Board.

Technically, because there is an Independent Governor and the stipulation indicates no more than "5" of one party, Biden could conceivably add 2 more (D)s (to have 5 (D)s, 3 (R)s and 1 (I) (who is sympathetic to (D)s)) rather than a (D) and a (R), but I expect he might not do that. As it is, it was a chore to get the last nominees confirmed due to the usual GOP whining.

[former9thward]

55. There are always excuses when each vacancy occurs.

There is no evidence any of the Biden appointees are interested in getting rid of DeJoy. When two more are added there will be more excuses.

[BumRushDaShow]

56. Most of these appointees have tended to come from corporate backgrounds

so many never even finish out their terms.

But there are staggered terms with varying degrees of vacancies and holdovers and at this point, with major contracts (that had to be modified after some blowback) that have been let for new vehicles and mail/relay boxes, no one really has any idea if the issue has even been brought up for a serious consideration recently given there hasn't really been a "full" compliment of Governors.

In any case, after his arrogant and contentious start, he has gone fairly quiet.

[samsingh]

34. i don't understand the delay to replace dejoy

[progressoid]

38. Biden needs him. And he's delivered (pardon the pun) for Biden

The notion that DeJoy, 65, would help advance a key Democratic agenda item would have seemed unfathomable a few years ago. But to the astonishment of many in Washington, the man Democrats once denounced as a threat to American democracy has become one of their most important allies in government. Defying the far right, he delivered more than 500 million COVID-19 test kits to Americans in the winter of 2022. Crossing conservatives last December, he agreed to transition the Postal Service’s entire fleet to electric vehicles by 2026. DeJoy’s capstone collaboration with Democrats was the Postal Service Reform Act, which is arguably the most bipartisan piece of major legislation in the Biden era, drawing 10 more GOP Senate votes than the $1 trillion infrastructure bill.

...https://time.com/6263424/louis-dejoy-trump-election-postal-reform/

Louis DeJoy: From Trump villain to Biden's clean energy buddy

The postmaster general was accused of masterminding an attempt to steal the election for former President Donald Trump by subverting mail-in voting in the midst of the pandemic. He was hauled up to Capitol Hill to defend his policies. When Joe Biden won, it was generally assumed that his days were numbered.

Now, nearly three years later, DeJoy isn’t just still standing atop the U.S. Postal Service, he’s become a critical player in Biden’s environmental agenda, striking a partnership with the president’s green guru, John Podesta, as USPS considers an environmental renaissance of its fleet.

It’s a remarkable change of script for one of the more memorable side characters of the Trump years. And it produced one of the most unlikely pairings in Washington D.C., something that the camps will privately acknowledge even as they’re loath to discuss it personally. Asked repeatedly about their good-natured relationship, both DeJoy and Podesta declined to comment.

...https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/13/how-louis-dejoy-went-from-democratic-nightmare-fuel-to-biden-clean-energy-player-00110945

[Crowman2009]

46. Get a new board member, ditch DeJackoff, have a USPS air fleet, bring back the blue boxes that were taken away,

return the sorting machines that were there previously, and increase funding for the US postal inspectors so we can crackdown on mail thefts!

[sprinkleeninow]

57. de joy go to de hoosegow nt

[madamesilverspurs]

49. But but but . .. .

Whatever happened with DeJoy having significant interest in a competing business?

And wasn't he busted for shovelling money via employees to Trump campaign, having them max out donations and then reimbursing them?


.

[FDRFTW]

60. DeJoy Must Go.