WASHINGTON – President Biden on Wednesday announced three nominees to fill vacant seats on the Postal Service board of governors, a move to increase Democratic influence in the future of the besieged agency.
If the nominees are confirmed by the Senate, Democrats and Democratic nominees will win a majority on the nine-member council. That would give them the power to oust Louis DeJoy, a major Republican donor who served as general postmaster since last year, should they decide. The board, not the president, hires and fires the general postmaster.
The announcement came on the same day that the House Oversight and Reform Committee held a hearing on how to deal with widespread financial and service problems at the post office, marking the first time DeJoy has testified before lawmakers since the November election.
The Postal Service catapulted into the national spotlight last summer amid slowdowns across the country that coincided with the operational changes instituted by DeJoy, heightening fears before the election about delays in postal voting. Democrats accused DeJoy, a supporter of President Donald J. Trump, of trying to undermine postal voting at a time when Trump was also promoting a false narrative that was fraught with fraud.
But DeJoy has also drawn attention to continuing delivery problems since the election, as the Post Office struggles to find a more solid financial base.
In his opening statement on Wednesday, Mr. DeJoy apologized for the slow delivery times for the service during the 2020 holiday season.
“We must recognize that during this high season, we fall far short of our service goals,” he said. “Many Americans have been waiting for weeks for important deliveries of mail and packages. This is unacceptable and I apologize to customers who have felt the impact of our delays ”.
He promised that the agency “would do better” and added: “Above all, my message is that the status quo is not acceptable to anyone.”
Biden’s announcement was his most direct action to date to resolve the service’s problems. The president’s nominees are Anton Hajjar, former general counsel for the American Postal Workers Union; Amber McReynolds, chief executive of the National Vote at Home Institute; and Ron Stroman, who resigned last year as deputy general postmaster and later served in Biden’s transition as leader of the agency’s review team for the Post Office.
“These experienced and tested leaders will ensure that the USPS is operating at the highest standards of service and that it can serve effectively and efficiently to all communities in our country,” said the White House in its announcement.
Mr. DeJoy said that the leaders of the Post Office have been developing a 10-year strategy for the agency that would include “a commitment to deliver six and seven days a week to all addresses in the country”.
He later acknowledged, however, that the postal service was “assessing all service standards”, suggesting that it might not be able to meet its current benchmarks for timely delivery of mail.
Lawmakers are debating a bill that would repeal a financially costly requirement that the service pre-finance their retirement plans, among other provisions. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers expressed some support for the changes.
But during the hearing, Republicans reminded the committee of the political dispute last summer amid delayed deliveries, calling Democrats for what they saw as unfair charges against DeJoy.
“Why should we believe that the angry resistance will not continue?” said Representative Jody B. Hice, Republican of Georgia. “If moving blue boxes and mail sorters and trying to bring sanity to the overtime usage is somehow seen as criminal activity by the mail agent, then what the hell is going to happen with the business plan he presents?”
Last year’s delays spawned a series of lawsuits that forced the Post Office to temporarily postpone operational changes. But service problems continued to plague the agency, and some Democrats asked Biden to replace the entire Postal Service board.
Asked by Representative Jim Cooper, Democrat of Tennessee, how long he planned to serve in his position, Mr. DeJoy replied: “A long time. Get used to me. “
At another time, DeJoy said that Biden had not asked him to resign, nor had any board member.
Bill Pascrell Jr., a Democrat from New Jersey, praised the president’s announcement on Wednesday, saying in a statement that it was an “important step, and I hope it is just the beginning”. But Pascrell added that Biden should remove the current board members, who he said were “silent and complicit in DeJoy’s sabotage”.
On Tuesday, the Postal Service chose military vehicle manufacturer Oshkosh Defense for a $ 482 million deal to supply the next generation of postal delivery trucks, rather than an electric vehicle manufacturer.
Sheelagh McNeill contributed to the research.