Tammy Duckworth pressures postal service board on firing DeJoy

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) on Monday called on her supporters via Twitter to urge the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Board of Governors to remove Postmaster General Louis DeJoy after the board said the former Trump donor “continues to enjoy the Board’s full support.” 

Duckworth late last month sent a letter to Board of Governors Chairman Ron Bloom and other board members calling on them to “take immediate action” in firing DeJoy in response to his 10-year plan to limit financial losses, including by raising postage prices, extending delivery windows and reducing post office hours. 

The Illinois senator wrote at the time that the planned changes demonstrated that DeJoy “is a clear and present threat to the future of the Postal Service and the well-being of millions of Americans, particularly small business owners, seniors and Veterans, who depend on an effective and reliable USPS to conduct daily business, safely participate in democracy and receive vital medication.” 

Duckworth on Monday tweeted screenshots of a response she received from Bloom, in which he wrote that while the board “shares your concern for the future of the Postal Service and your desire to bring attention to the many challenges it faces, we respectfully disagree with the statements in your letter regarding our Plan.” 

“The Governors selected Louis DeJoy as Postmaster General because we believed a transformational leader was crucial in order to position the Postal Service for long-term success,” Bloom argued, citing DeJoy’s career as founder of transportation and supply chain logistics company New Breed Logistics, which later merged with XPO Logistics. 

Bloom went on to say that DeJoy “continued to enjoy the Board’s full support as he carries out our ‘Delivering for America’ plan.” 

Duckworth on Monday called on her followers to retweet her post to tell the board “how unacceptable this is.” 

As of Tuesday afternoon, the post was retweeted nearly 15,000 times. 

A little over a week ago, I called on the USPS Board of Governors to fire DeJoy.

Today, I received the letter below informing me that, “DeJoy continues to enjoy the Board’s full support…”

RT to tell them how unacceptable this is. pic.twitter.com/0QDIxnVJQa

— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) April 5, 2021

Duckworth also re-upped her calls on the Biden administration to remove the entire board of governors, claiming that “The 6 current members are all DeJoy loyalists.” 

Instead of holding DeJoy accountable, the USPS Board of Governors confirmed what I always suspected was true:

The 6 current members are all DeJoy loyalists.

I’m re-upping my February request that @POTUS use his legal authority to remove the entire Board for cause. pic.twitter.com/sdASpVuetf

— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) April 6, 2021

The postal service has been subject to scrutiny from both political parties since DeJoy’s June 2020 appointment. Under DeJoy, USPS announced operational changes leading up to the November 2020 election, drawing criticism from Democrats that the move would limit the timely delivery of mail-in ballots amid the pandemic. 

DeJoy has faced renewed backlash with the announcement of his 10-year plan last month, which he argued at the time included changes that were “long overdue.” 

“The Postal Service’s problems are serious, but working together, they can be solved,” DeJoy said in a statement, adding that the 10-year plan “capitalizes on our natural strengths and addresses our serious weaknesses.” 

Days later, a group of House Democrats introduced the Delivering Envelopes Judiciously On-time Year-round Act, or DEJOY Act, in an effort to block the planned changes to delivery windows and post office hours. 

Under DeJoy’s plan, 70 percent of first-class mail items would take three days, while the remaining 30 percent could take up to an additional two days.