Democratic members of Congress are continuing to push for the exit of U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who assumed his current position during the Trump administration but whose job is the responsibility of the board of governors overseeing the Postal Service — meaning that neither the president nor members of Congress can, as of this time, remove him from the role. That board is comprised of nine members, and two additional picks from President Joe Biden were unveiled last year — and these presidential nominees would bring the total number of members on the board that were selected by Biden to five, but those last two picks haven’t been confirmed by the Senate yet.
Over a year ago I called for louis dejoy and the entire trump postal board to be fired. Dejoy and his enablers should be removed and thrown into the street for what they’ve done to your post office. Enough is enough. https://t.co/EjPRcdoih9
— Bill Pascrell, Jr. (@BillPascrell) February 3, 2022
Those who are advocating for DeJoy to leave the helm of the Postal Service include Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), and they’ve raised a selection of their most recent concerns over the DeJoy-led Postal Service’s awarding of a “contract to replace [their] 30-year-old fleet with up to 165,000 new trucks over 10 years… to Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Defense,” Newsweek explains. That company will be replacing most of the Postal Service’s trucks with gas-powered vehicles, instead of electric ones, potentially missing out on a major opportunity to cut down on the greenhouse gas emissions associated with a major government fleet. Even Vicki Arroyo, who helps lead the office of policy at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), spoke out, telling the Postal Service in a letter that the plan to spend big on new gas-powered vehicles “represents a crucial lost opportunity to more rapidly reduce the carbon footprint of one of the largest government fleets in the world.”
Obligatory tweet saying the USPS Board of governors is absolutely napping on the job every day Louis DeJoy remains postmaster general. We deserve so much better.
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) February 4, 2022
On Twitter, Connolly said: “Louis DeJoy plans to spend billions on gas-powered vehicles despite clear goals set by [President Joe Biden] and Congress to electrify the federal fleet. I want a full examination of this contract, and I am pursuing a legislative remedy. But DeJoy has to go right now.” In reply to a post on Twitter about the same issue of Postal Service vehicles, Pascrell added: “Over a year ago I called for Louis DeJoy and the entire Trump postal board to be fired. DeJoy and his enablers should be removed and thrown into the street for what they’ve done to your post office. Enough is enough.” Relatedly, nearly a dozen representatives in Congress serving various parts of Illinois recently signed onto a joint letter advocating for the swift consideration by the Senate of Biden’s two most recent nominees for the Postal Service board. They wrote that it’s “vital that the Postal Board of Governors operate at full capacity to meet the needs of this moment and properly evaluate the performance of the USPS.”
Illinoisians know how important the Postal Service is to our seniors, small businesses, veterans, and families. @USPS must continue to fulfill its public service mandate. I joined my IL colleagues in urging the Senate to consider the President’s Postal Board nominees. #SaveUSPS pic.twitter.com/oSIBVIOTUt
— Congressman Bill Foster (@RepBillFoster) February 2, 2022
Postal Service spokesperson David Partenheimer credited cost concerns for the decision to stick with largely gas-powered vehicles for the Postal Service’s fleet update, insisting that the “Postal Service is certainly willing to accelerate the pace of electrification of our delivery fleet if a solution can be found to do so that is not financially detrimental to the Postal Service” — although the Illinois members of Congress who signed onto that letter noted that they were “concerned,” in certain contexts, about Postal Service officials disregarding “the U.S. Postal Service’s role as a public service rather than a profit-making entity.” It’s not all about money.
BREAKING: Louis DeJoy traded more than a million dollars in stocks and options in December—and as much as $2.5 million. Click here to view his trades: https://t.co/yTKNMmpw0M
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) February 4, 2022
