Postmaster General Louis DeJoy testified at an oversight subcommittee hearing on Wednesday (May 17, 2023) about his Delivering for America plan, and when questioned by one lawmaker, laid into the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), which is an independent Federal agency that provides transparency and accountability of the U. S. Postal Service’s operations.
Steve Hutkins of SaveThePostOffice.com wrote about the remarkable exchange in detail, including a link to a YouTube video going right to the conversation.
When Representative Lee asked DeJoy why he objected to the PRC seeking more transparency about the Delivering for America plan and to learn more about its impact on the postal community, DeJoy said the Postal Regulatory Commission had overstepped its authority.
He also said the PRC had actively participated in the destruction of the USPS over the last fifteen years.
And in explaining that he was committed to getting the plan back on track, DeJoy stated, “and that’s why interference from the Postal Regulatory Commission is not helpful.”
Professor Hutkins said based on DeJoy’s testimony, he believes if the PRC goes forward with its public inquiry on the Delivering for America plan, the Postal Service will take it to court rather than cooperate.
Not all of the Postmaster General’s comments were inflammatory. One representative from Vermont asked about the impact of the plan on delivery in rural parts of America. Another representative from South Carolina asked why the Postal Service has ignored his concerns over accessibility issues at a Post Office in his district.
That said, we watched only portions of the hearing; the House Oversight committee provided a transcript of the Postmaster General’s prepared remarks the day before (Tuesday), which is available on the House.gov website (hat tip to the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers), and CSPAN made available the video on its website, complete with questions from lawmakers and responses from DeJoy.
Government Executive covered the hearing in this article.
Meanwhile, lobbying group Keep US Posted submitted its analysis to the Congressional committee in advance of the hearing that challenged the U.S. Postal Service’s plans to continue increasing postage rates twice per year.
Note: See more about the PRC public inquiry into the USPS Delivering for America plan in this SaveThePostOffice.com post.
DeJoy said “Service is better now”. No, it’s been decidedly worse since he took over. Our mail delivery and pickup was never irregular before this tenure. We used to have a carrier show up each and every day, Monday through Saturday. Now, not so much. And lot of the mail that is supposed to arrive on any given day often arrives days late.
Also, the USPS is slowly killing businesses who sell and ship media with the constant Media Mail increases. And that’s before talking about all the other horrific shipping-related price spikes.
He needs to finally go.
@Steve= true, everyone i know is seeking alternatives, even for home DELIVERY (not just shipping out)
DeJoy is a master at projection, and i pity anyone that cant see his goal is to destroy the USPS
(by making it just a lame shipping alternative) and have his ‘stock’ in xpo and any other logistics company skyrocket.
The powers that be , must be hand-tied and lame not to be able to ditch this guy who is positioned on the inside to get rid of the EPA, i mean the DFW…oh wait, those guys were already canned….i mean the USPS
So true, I’ve written every politician, contact all the news channels, no body cares or wants to help.Just a slap in the face to all the small seller who have kept the USPS afloat.
We have family that works for the Post Office. Changes need to be made and cost have gone up just like everywhere else. 1st class mail is the most profitable and it continues to go down each year thus changes need to be made. Companies are advertising more online and less with USPS. You will soon see area hubs with its USPS carriers similar to UPS. Many changes are coming whether you like them or not and most need to be done from what has been told to me by USPS employees. It sucks package prices continue to go up but that is what needs to be done like like UPS and Fed Ex increases its prices to meet expenses etc. We up our prices on the items we sell the best we can to cover the increases.
And the more they change and raise rates, the less mail they’ll get. USPS already lost all my packages over 2lbs or over 30″, UPS gets them. Rates are so high I can’t up my prices, I’m actually having to lower them or they won’t sell.
Louis… you need to resign