WASHINGTON (NEWS10) — Over 50 members of the House of Representatives released a letter urging Pres. Joe Biden to fire Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and the rest of U.S. Postal Service leadership, the Board of Governors.
The Members of Congress highlight what they consider three broad failures that warrant immediate removal and replacement:
- Gross mismanagement
- Continued and self-inflicted nationwide delays in mail delivery
- Rampant conflicts of interest
“Under the tenure of this Board of Governors, the Postal Service was blatantly misused by President Trump in an unsuccessful gambit to influence a presidential election, the Postal Service is currently failing to meet its own service standards with historically low rates of on-time delivery, and conflicts of interest appear to be a requirement for service,” wrote the members. “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 letter, sent Tuesday, was signed by several legislators from New York—Reps. Paul Tonko, Jamaal Bowman, Nydia Velázquez, Jerrold Nadler, Carolyn Maloney, Adriano Espaillat, and Mondaire Jones. They’re pushing for Biden to immediately remove and replace the embattled USPS leadership—appointed by former Pres. Donald Trump—because of damaging changes dating back to election season.
Local Rep. Tonko says failures of USPS leadership harm customers and postal workers alike. Earlier in March, he wrote a letter directly to DeJoy. He pushes the Postmaster General to explain changes under his direction—like the removal of sortation equipment from post offices in the Capital Region—that have caused extreme service delays.
“I am deeply troubled by reports of delayed mail delivery and capacity limitations imposed upon local facilities as a result of agency-wide directives,” Tonko wrote. “Lifesaving medications, Social Security checks, veterans and unemployment benefits, legal documents, and many other indispensable necessities are processed by Postal employees and handled with care each day by our letter carriers. As the COVID-19 pandemic reached every corner of our country over the last year, reliance upon these services has proven even more essential.”
Take a look at the letter to President Biden below:
