‘Fire this corrupt man’: USPS chief Louis DeJoy unveils mail rollbacks as Democrats demand his removal

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Mr DeJoy’s 10-year “Delivering for America” plan – coming off a year plagued by service cuts across the agency despite a surge in vote-by-mail efforts during 2020 elections and a pandemic that saw Americans relying on mail for critical deliveries – proposes longer first-class mail delivery, shorter office hours and higher postage prices. In a statement on Tuesday, Mr DeJoy said the plan is a “long overdue” effort towards “growth and investments, as well as targeted cost reductions and other strategies that will enable us to operate in a precise and efficient manner to meet future challenges, as we put the Postal Service on a path for financial sustainability and service excellence.” Mr DeJoy – a top GOP donor appointed by Donald Trump and confirmed to lead the agency last year – has faced routine criticism since his appointment last June for overseeing service cuts and delivery issues in an unprecedented election year during the coronavirus pandemic. Under the new plan, the agency says it plans to “meet or exceed 95 per cent on-time delivery across mail and shipping product classes.” In a scathing letter to the president on Thursday, House Democrats accused the board of remaining “silent in the face of catastrophic and unacceptable failures” throughout the public health crisis and 2020 presidential election, during which Mr Trump “blatantly misused” the agency as part of an “unsuccessful gambit to influence a presidential election” as he undermined vote-by-mail efforts for months, the lawmakers wrote. In a statement on Tuesday, Senator Gary Peters said he is “concerned that several of the initiatives in this plan will harm service for folks across the country who rely on the Postal Service for prescription drugs, financial documents, running their small businesses, and more.” “Cuts to service standards for first-class mail, limiting hours at local post offices, and making it more difficult for people to access postal products would adversely impact USPS customers across the nation, including in rural and underserved communities,” he said.