PATERSON, NJ – U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) today wrote to President Joe Biden calling on him to fire the entire United States Postal Service (USPS) Board of Governors:

“After several years of unprecedented sabotage, the United States Postal Service is teetering on the brink of collapse. Through the devastating arson of the Trump regime, the USPS Board of Governors sat silent. Their dereliction cannot now be forgotten. Therefore, I urge you to fire the entire Board of Governors and nominate a new slate of leaders to begin the hard work of rebuilding our Postal Service for the next century,” Pascrell writes President Biden.

As DeJoy’s efforts to dismantle mail sorting machines, cut overtime, restrict deliveries, and remove mailboxes slowed mail nationally, Donald Trump himself openly admitted that his administration was withholding funding for the Postal Service to make it harder to process mail-in ballots. Through it all, the Board of Governors did nothing to protect USPS.

Pursuant to Title 39, the USPS Board of Governors’ central responsibility is to “represent the public interest” and its members may be removed by the President “for cause.” Today, Pascrell urges President Biden to exercise that legal authority and fire all six sitting members of the Board of Governors for their dereliction and betrayal.

Since this crisis began, Rep. Pascrell has aggressively demanded accountability from USPS. On May 21, 2020, Pascrell wrote to USPS Inspector General Tammy Whitcomb demanding an investigation of turmoil at the USPS, stemming from a pattern of interference engineered by the Trump administration in its efforts to destabilize the post office.

On September 30, 2020 Pascrell led members of the New Jersey Congressional Delegation in a letter to Postmaster General DeJoy demanding an emergency visit to the Dominic Daniels mail sorting center in Kearny and requesting information on USPS’s ability to carry out New Jersey’s all vote-by-mail general election. In October, Pascrell made a surprise appearance at the Daniels Facility and demanded access.

On August 14, 2020 Pascrell became the first member of Congress to call for DeJoy and Trump to be investigated by a state criminal grand jury for their arsoning the Post Office, making a criminal referral to New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal alleging Trump and DeJoy subverted state elections.

The text of Rep. Pascrell’s letter is provided below.

January 25, 2021

President Joe Biden

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear President Biden:

After several years of unprecedented sabotage, the United States Postal Service (USPS) is teetering on the brink of collapse. Through the devastating arson of the Trump regime, the USPS Board of Governors sat silent. Their dereliction cannot now be forgotten. Therefore, I urge you to fire the entire Board of Governors and nominate a new slate of leaders to begin the hard work of rebuilding our Postal Service for the next century.

According to a report by the USPS Office of Inspector General^[1], operational changes imposed by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy “negatively impacted the quality and timeliness of mail service nationally” and were “implemented quickly and communicated primarily orally,” resulting in confusion and inconsistent application across the country. As DeJoy’s efforts to dismantle mail sorting machines, cut overtime, restrict deliveries, and remove mailboxes slowed mail nationally^[2], Donald Trump himself openly admitted that his administration was withholding funding for the Postal Service in order to make it harder to process mail-in ballots^[3].

Things became so bad that on August 14, 2020, I filed a complaint with our state’s Attorney General calling on him to seek indictments against your predecessor and the Postmaster General for election subversion.^[4] Postal operations have continued to severely lag benchmark levels under DeJoy and this slate of Governors. This holiday season, USPS reported an unprecedented level of mail disruption, with only 64 percent of first-class mail delivered on time in late December.^[5] Through it all, the Governors were either silent or in support of DeJoy’s havoc.

The members of the USPS Board of Governors have but one central responsibility: “represent[ing] the public interest.”^[6] Members may be removed by the President “only for cause.” The board members’ refusal to oppose the worst destruction ever inflicted on the Postal Service was a betrayal of their duties and unquestionably constitutes good cause for their removal.

As America’s perhaps most enduringly trusted institution, a central economic and social engine for every community in America, and a vital vanguard of the democratic tradition, the Post Office must play an essential role in our national life for generations to come.^[7] The continued challenges in preserving our Postal Service to survive and endure are gargantuan, and so demand bold solutions to meet them. To begin that work, we must have a governing body that can be trusted to represent the public interest. Thank you for your continued dedication to saving our Post Office.

Sincerely,

Bill Pascrell, Jr.

Member of Congress

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[1] https://www.uspsoig.gov/document/operational-changes-mail-delivery

[2] See https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-20/usps-cutbacks-post-office-chaos

[3] See https://apnews.com/article/14a2ceda724623604cc8d8e5ab9890ed

[4] https://pascrell.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=4428

[5] See https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/19/upshot/postal-service-survived-election-but-crushed-by-holidays.html

[6] 39 U.S.C. § 202(a)(1).

[7] See https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/april-may-june-2019/congress-is-sabotaging-your-post-office/