Pascrell Reacts Harshly to Report Hammering Post Office Leadership

Postal Regulatory Commission findings again show DeJoy, legacy USPS governors must be removed

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) today reacted harshly to a scathing report issued by the U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) finding that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s ten-year plan to rebuild the United States Post Office (USPS) is plan is built on unreliable data, based on unproven assumptions, and won’t provide the cost savings assumed by USPS.

“The findings of the Postal Regulatory Commission make crystal clear that Louis DeJoy and his plans are a clear and present danger to the future of the Post Office,” said Rep. Pascrell. “DeJoy’s so-called plan to rebuild USPS will not strengthen it but instead make it even more feeble. Louis DeJoy should have been fired a long time ago. Americans demand a Post Office that works for them. That starts with firing the pre-Biden board members who have enabled this damage and then removing Louis DeJoy.”

DeJoy’s ten-year plan would institute slower delivery standards for 30% (roughly 5 billion pieces annually) of first-class mail, while increasing the price for postage. According to the PRC, USPS has not demonstrated evidence to show that the DeJoy plan won’t hurt customer satisfaction and has not adequately adapted its plan to address the myriad of concerns raised by customers and stakeholders. Contrary to DeJoy’s assertion that his plan would provide significant cost savings, the PRC found the plan would be unlikely to improve USPS’s financial condition.

The PRC criticized USPS for not conducting any operational or pilot testing before implementing DeJoy’s drastic changes to service standards, and advised the Postal Service to address these many concerns before moving forward. PRC Chairman Michael Kubayanda emphasized that the DeJoy plan “does not meet the needs of the moment and is not supported by the testimony the Postal Service has presented”.

On January 25, 2021, Pascrell became the first member of Congress calling on President Biden to fire the entire Postal Board of Governors sitting before his election for their silence and complicity in DeJoy’s ongoing sabotage of postal operations. In February, Pascrell immediately praised the nominations by President Biden of the three new nominees to the USPS Board of Governors and on March 18, Pascrell and Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-VA-11) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR-03) led over 50 House Democrats urging Biden to immediately remove the then-sitting USPS Board of Governors.

Since this postal crisis began, Rep. Pascrell has aggressively demanded accountability from USPS. On May 21, 2020, Pascrell wrote to USPS Inspector General Tammy Whitcomb demanding an investigation of turmoil at the USPS, stemming from a pattern of interference engineered by the Trump administration in its efforts to destabilize the post office.

On August 14, 2020 Pascrell became the first member of Congress to call for DeJoy and Trump to be investigated by a state criminal grand jury for their dismantling the Post Office, making a criminal referral to New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal alleging Trump and DeJoy subverted state elections.

On September 30, 2020 Pascrell led members of the New Jersey Congressional Delegation in a letter to Postmaster General DeJoy demanding an emergency visit to the Dominic Daniels mail sorting center in Kearny and requesting information on USPS’s ability to carry out New Jersey’s all vote-by-mail general election. In October, Pascrell made a surprise appearance at the Daniels Facility and demanded access.

Just last month, Pascrell wrote to President Biden’s three new appointees to the USPS Board of Governors, Ronald Stroman, Amber McReynolds, and Anton Hajjar, calling on them to remove DeJoy.

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