Letter to the Hon. Joseph R. Biden, President of the United States - Duckworth Urges Biden Administration to Replace All Usps Board of Governors Who Permitted Dejoy's Disastrous Decisions

Letter

Thank you for all your work in the early days of this Administration to rebuild our Nation's trust in vital institutions. Since its founding, originating in our Constitution, the United States Postal Service (USPS) has been a cornerstone institution of American communities. Unfortunately, as a result of recent and abject failure of leadership at the top of the USPS, it is in desperate need of repair in the public eye. It is for this reason that I urge you to act swiftly and replace every member of the current USPS Board of Governors. Doing so would restore accountability and credibility at this Board, and it would send a message to future leaders that silence in the face of a campaign of sabotage will not be tolerated.

As you know, last May, the USPS Board of Governors appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. Shortly after taking office, Mr. DeJoy implemented and accelerated flawed and harmful, system wide operational changes that included gutting overtime pay, reducing hours of operations for facilities and removing community mail drop boxes. On the ground and in our communities, these incoherent and hastily rolled-out policy changes immediately led to widespread delivery delays and system-wide mail and parcel backlogs. Such bottlenecks put individuals like Veterans and older adults at risk of not receiving their lifesaving prescriptions on time; families at risk of missing their paychecks, utility bills, credit-card payments and court notices and hard-hit small businesses at risk of not receiving critical supplies for their customers on-time.

Under proper leadership, these missteps could have been avoided. For instance, an October 2020 report by the USPS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) noted how USPS leadership -- despite instituting "transformational changes" -- failed to complete a single study, analysis or pilot test to fully comprehend the impact of their actions. The USPS OIG further determined that Postmaster General DeJoy and his leadership team implemented these changes "quickly and communicated [them] primarily orally," creating confusion across operations within the USPS system.

These failures are inexcusable in any moment, but especially so in the midst of a pandemic and presidential election year where Americans increasingly needed to utilize mail-in ballots. It will take significant work to rebuild trust for this vital institution, and while Americans still celebrate their local letter carrier, they continue to have concerns about the individuals leading this agency.

While Postmaster General DeJoy rushed to implement these changes, he did so with little -- if any -- public rebuke from the current USPS Board of Governors. There must be accountability for this failure in leadership, and that is why I am requesting that you use your authority under 39 U.S.C. § 202 to immediately replace the entire USPS Board of Governors. There should not be any toleration for their silence or complicity in overseeing these harmful policy changes that have also eroded the public trust in this agency. I believe taking this step will begin the work of serving the public and rebuilding a robust, efficient and sustainable USPS for future generations.

I appreciate your consideration of this request, and I look forward to working with you to place this institution back on solid ground following the Trump Administration's deliberate campaign against it.

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