President-elect Donald Trump and President Joe Biden both took actions Monday that may have an impact on the future of the U.S. Postal Service, just over a month before Inauguration Day.
Trump hinted at a potential privatization of the Postal Service during a press conference held at his Florida home in Mar-a-Lago.
In response to a question concerning the agency, Trump stated that we are considering privatization and that it is not the worst proposal he has ever heard.
That is being discussed. “Many people have liked this idea for a long time,” he remarked.
Hundreds of thousands of employment would be impacted by privatizing the Postal Service, which runs the risk of upending a system that predates the United States itself, having been established in 1775.
Even though the Postal Service is a government organization with federal workers, the majority of its income comes from its own commercial endeavors, such as the sale of goods, services, and postage.
A request for response on Trump’s comments was not immediately answered by the Postal Service.
The agency’s 11-member Board of Governors, which is chaired by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who was nominated during Trump’s first time in office, would have to approve any attempt to privatize the agency. The Senate must confirm members who have been nominated by the president.
Biden on Monday announced his intent to renominate Anton Hajjar to the Board of Governors a move that would require quick action by Democrats to confirm him before Republicans take control of the Senate in the first week of January.
Hajjar was on the board of the Postal Service before. With little to no resistance, the Senate confirmed Biden’s 2021 nomination by a voice vote. Hajjar completed the remainder of a term that ended in December of last year. His next term would be seven years if the Senate approves his renomination.
Hajjaris a former general counsel of the American Postal Workers Union, representing unions and union workers.
Biden s intention to nominate Hajjar is an attempt to leverage control over the highly popular agency, which has not been profitable since 2006. According to a Pew Research Center survey this year, the Postal Service is the second most popular government agency, after the National Park Service.
Trump has publicly criticized the organization, calling it a joke that loses a lot of money. While he was in office during the Covid pandemic, Trump opposed extending help to the agency and threatened to veto congressional measures that included aid for it.
DeJoy’s appointment by the Postal Service s Board of Governors in 2020 resulted in anunveiling of a 10-year planto overhaul the post office to address financial hardship and modernize the Postal Service.
Republicans more broadly haveexpressed discontentwith the Postal Service, calling it bloated, mismanaged and unaccountable. GOP lawmakers grilled DeJoy at aHouse Oversight Committee hearingthis month, saying that people in the U.S. are enduring poor service and that the Postal Service is hemorrhaging red ink.
Democrats have opposed privatization, with Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., recently tellingThe Washington Postthat privatization is our big fear.
Ultimately, the Board of Governors, Biden s pick, Hajjar, among them if he is confirmed, would decide the fate of the agency and whether the service which provides private companies such as Amazon, FedEx and UPS with last-mile service in rural areas is privatized or not.
CORRECTION(Dec. 17, 2024, 3:25 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated who appointed Louis DeJoy postmaster general. It was the Postal Service s Board of Governors, not President-elect Donald Trump during his first term.
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