Even in a drama-filled election unlike any other, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and his assault on the postal service stood out.
After Trump appointed the businessman to run the agency, DeJoy largely failed in his mission to help the former president discourage voters from casting ballots by mail, but evidence suggests his policies and the pandemic have decimated the postal service. Now many, including Democratic lawmakers, are calling on Biden to act swiftly to remove him and the Trump-majority UnitedStates Postal Service board of governors.
Though Biden doesn’t have the authority to remove DeJoy himself, he could immediately appoint a Democratic majority-board that could fire the postmaster general, but the administration has yet to act. That’s left many asking “Why?”
“We think he can move quickly and should move quickly and should be bold – there’s no debate about anyone being confirmed by the Senate, so let’s make it strong and powerful,” said Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union.
But it might take some time for that to happen. Representative Gerry Connolly, chair of the subcommittee on government operations, which oversees the postal service, labeled DeJoy a “huge problem” and is calling on Biden to fire the entire board, but told the Guardian he doesn’t think it’s “a fair question” to ask why the president hasn’t acted during his first three weeks in office.
“Give him a little bit of time. We’re dealing with huge problems – a pandemic, huge economic challenges, he’s got to make cabinet appointments, he’s got his environmental agenda,” Connolly added. “But this needs to be on the priority list and I believe it will be.”
Representative Tim Ryan, who in January sent a letter to Biden calling on him to “clean house,” stressed that late bill payments, late checks, and delayed medication deliveries cause problems for many Americans and underscored the urgency. Though DeJoy has refused to release 2021 on time delivery data, December numbers made public in lawsuits shows that only about 40% of first class mail was arriving on time – down from about 92% the year before.
Read more of Tom Perkins’ report here: Democrats urge Biden to fire USPS chief Trump ally who decimated mail service