Inside Louis DeJoy's Plan To Slash The Postal Service

Lawmakers are sounding the alarm as postmaster general Louis DeJoy prepares to unveil a 10-year plan that could cripple the Postal Service. According to the Washington Post, DeJoy will announce policies Tuesday that hike prices, slow mail times and reduce hours.

DeJoy has long signaled a preference for scaling down USPS operations, creating massive delays right before the mail-reliant 2020 presidential election. Along with other Republicans, DeJoy views the post office as a business rather than a public service.

“Does it make a difference if it’s an extra day to get a letter?” he told Congress in February. “Because something has to change. We cannot keep doing the same thing we’re doing.”

Critics say that DeJoy was chosen by Trump to sway the election in Trump’s favor and ruin an agency that has often found itself in conservative crosshairs. DeJoy has also come under investigation for alleged campaign-finance violations.

The new plan has redoubled calls for Biden to complete the nominations necessary to fire DeJoy, with the USPS trending on Twitter amid the furor.

The postmaster general operates independent of the executive branch, overseen by a board of governors. Biden has three nominees in the works, enough to give the majority necessary to remove DeJoy.

For some Democrats, that’s not enough: over 50 representatives asked Biden to fire the entire board over its approval of the plan, alleging “gross mismanagement,” “self-inflicted” mail delays and “rampant conflicts of interest.”

Over the holidays, the post office’s service numbers were the worst in decades. Only 71% of two-day mail arrived on time, dropping to 38% for three-day mail.

If DeJoy isn’t replaced, he’s indicated yet more price hikes could be in the works.