U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy was raked over the coals on Tuesday in a hearing conducted by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, particularly by Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Georgia).
Georgia's senior U.S. senator confronted DeJoy — one of former President Donald Trump's top campaign donors who became head of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) in 2020 — over persistent mail delays in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. A vast majority of mail in the area has been delivered late due to DeJoy's overhaul of the USPS dubbed "Delivering for America." According to Georgia Public Broadcasting, Ossoff gave DeJoy a direct ultimatum during the hearing.
“You don't have months to fix 36% of the mail being delivered on time," Ossoff said. "I've got constituents with prescriptions that aren't being delivered. I've got constituents who can't pay their rent and their mortgages. I've got businesses who aren't able to ship products or receive supplies.”
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"The amount of distress this is causing my constituents is massive," he continued. "And i want to know what you're going to do, what specific steps you are going to take, to fix this within two weeks."
DeJoy's 10-year plan to restructure the USPS — ostensibly for cost-cutting reasons — involves shuttering numerous mail sorting facilities across the country and consolidating all mail traffic through 60 different regional distribution centers. As several Senate Democrats noted in a letter to DeJoy earlier this year, the plan would leave multiple states with large concentrations of rural residents without any mail facilities at all, including New Hampshire, Vermont and Wyoming.
"[F]or communities near facilities under review, it is unclear how local first-class mail will meet its two-day standard while traveling hundreds of miles for sorting," the letter read. "This is especially concerning for Americans who need reliable and expedient mail service to conduct business, pay their bills, receive medications, and stay in touch with loved ones."
DeJoy defended the plan by insisting his team was "working, working very hard" to address the delay of mail delivery in cities like Atlanta, and that in the long run, the Atlanta area "will have the, probably, the best service."
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"The long run is too long," Ossoff countered. "You've got weeks, not months. You've got weeks, not months to fix this."
"I don't think you're fit for this job," he added.
As postmaster general, DeJoy answers not to President Joe Biden, but to the nine-member USPS Board of Governors, which is responsible for hiring and firing the head of the USPS. While a Republican majority on the board appointed DeJoy to his position, Biden has since appointed former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh to the board last month. After he's confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Democratic board appointees would have a majority and could then move to fire DeJoy at any point. Biden also has one more vacancy on the board to fill.
Watch the video of Ossoff's comments by clicking this link.
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