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House Democrats who oversee the USPS are concerned that the Trump administration is maneuvering to get around the law and gut the United Postal Service.
In a letter to House Oversight Committee chair James Comer (R-KY), twenty House Democrats led by Oversight Committee ranking member Gerry Connolly (D-VA) wrote:
We write to request that you convene an immediate hearing on the Trump Administration’s plans for the United States Postal Service (USPS). Since the Committee’s most recent hearing on the USPS, the Trump Administration has reportedly explored privatizing the USPS, firing the bipartisan Postal Board of Governors, merging the USPS into the Department of Commerce, and is now subjecting the USPS, America’s most trusted federal institution, to the chainsaw approach of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). This broad assault on the independence of the USPS demands Congressional oversight, especially from the Committee with jurisdiction over the USPS.
On December 14, 2024, the Washington Post reported that President Trump was considering actions to privatize the USPS and push thousands of federal service employees out of their jobs in favor of a broad privatization of the agency’s essential services. Two months later, further reporting noted that President Trump was preparing plans to fire the bipartisan Postal Board of Governors and “merge” the Postal Service into the Commerce Department, “potentially throwing the 250-year-old mail provider and trillions of dollars of e-commerce transactions into turmoil.”
On March 13, 2025, you received a letter from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy acknowledging an agreement he signed with “DOGE representatives” and the General Services Administration to assist the USPS in “identifying and achieving further efficiencies.” This agreement apparently includes plans for a “further reduction of another 10,000 people in the next 30 days” and a “reduction in air transportation, ground transportation, terminal handling. facilities” through “operating contract terminations, and lease cancellations.” These are, of course, the principal means through which critical mail services such as medication, bills, ballots, parcels, and letters are delivered across the nation to serve the public.
The agreement also signals the Postmaster General’s interest in gutting the Congressionally-authorized Postal Regulatory Commission, potentially allowing rates, rulemaking, and other actions to favor certain industries, individuals, and regions at the expense of the network’s operational needs and universal service obligation. This back-room agreement between the billionaire-led DOGE and Postmaster DeJoy sets off alarm bells about this Administration’s plans for the Postal Service’s role as a cornerstone public institution.
The Postal Service facilitates the delivery of more than 115 billion pieces of mail each year, a significant portion of which is delivered to rural, low-income, and hard-to reach areas that would not otherwise receive service if not for the universal service obligation, which has received bipartisan support in Congress and is integral to the mission of Postal Service.
The Democrats are seeking an immediate hearing and copies of all agreements that DeJoy signed with DOGE and Musk.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist or a rich guy who funds rockets that tend to explode to understand what is happening. Trump and Musk are trying to gut the Postal Service with a backroom deal that gets around the law and oversight.
Changes to USPS can only be made by Congress, not the president or his billionaire backer who bought his way into the White House.
Since Trump and his billionaire oligarchs prefer to operate in secret, it is up to members of Congress to alert the public to what is going on because public pressure has been effective in getting Trump to back off.
What do you think about Musk and DeJoy’s backroom deal? Share your opinion in the comments below.
