- Democrats on Friday demanded that President Biden replace the USPS board of governors.
- “We can start fixing the post office by firing the leadership,” said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr.
- Postmaster General Louis DeJoy was summoned by the NAACP in August.
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Congressmen on Friday called on President Joe Biden to replace every member of the U.S. Postal Service’s board of governors, saying they had enabled the postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, to make his ‘harmful’ policy decisions.
“There should be no tolerance for their silence or complicity in overseeing these damaging policy changes that have also weakened public confidence in this agency,” Senator Tammy Duckworth said in a letter to the president.
Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. said Twitter“Americans do not want to hear apologies. We can start fixing the post office by firing the leadership.”
He added: “Louis DeJoy was appointed by Trump to delay your post and destroy your post office. He is corrupt and must go.”
The president has the power to appoint governors to the USPS board, which works much like a board of directors of a public company. The nine governors appoint the postmaster general.
Democrats’ call for Biden to replace the governors comes as DeJoy’s USPS team plans new updates, which, according to reports from The Washington Post and NBC News, raise some postage and remove first-class mail.
“This job is not only necessary, it’s long overdue,” DeJoy told NBC News on Friday.
As of Saturday, there were six governors appointed to the USPS board, leaving three vacancies. The deputy postmaster post was also vacant.
Press secretary Jen Psaki was asked in the White House on Thursday whether Biden plans to move quickly to fill the vacancies in the USPS board.
Psaki said: “I have no staff announcements or details on the terms of the – or, I must say, the factors that contribute to it. But you know, the president stands by his concern about what happened last fall and improvements which he would like to see at the Post Office. ‘
Read more: The definitive timeline of Louis DeJoy, the North Carolina man who put Trump in charge of the post office after he and his wife gave millions to Republicans
Both the USPS and DeJoy, a former Republican donor, were sued last fall by the NAACP and other civil rights groups.
The groups say the delivery at the post office was an act of self-sabotage for the U.S. postal system in “a blatant attempt to deny voters of color,” many of whom intended to use ballot papers for the November election.
AACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said at the time: ‘This deliberate and blatant attempt to hamper the postal system amid a pandemic and on the brink of a crucial election is a direct threat to the people. of this country’s right to a fair and free election. ”
In her letter to Biden, Duckworth said it would take significant work to rebuild confidence in the USPS.