Illinois Senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin are calling for the resignation of the United States Postal Service Board of Governors. In a letter sent to President Joe Biden yesterday, the Senators have asked for entirely new leadership at the Postal Service after what they called “disastrous” decisions made by former President Donald Trump appointee, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. They say that the Board of Governors allowed the DeJoy decisions of removing community mailboxes, reducing operation hours, gutting of overtime pay for employees have led to delayed shipments of medications, paychecks, and utility and bill payments across the country.
According to op-ed in the Washington Post Thursday, only 71 percent of local first-class mail arrived within two days of being sent in the last 2 months of 2020, down from 90% in the first half of 2020. The op-ed also says that the Postal Service lost $9.2 billion last year despite rising revenues. Duckworth and Durbin says that DeJoy’s reforms and policies have disproportionately impacted Veterans and the elderly across the country who critically depend on the USPS. Both Senators have requested a meeting with the Biden Administration to create reforms for the Postal Service to get it back to what they call a “robust, efficient, and sustainable” institution.
