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House Democrats are narrowly out of the majority, but they are still doing all that they can to stand up to Trump and raise public awareness about the president’s unpopular agenda.
On Saturday, House Oversight Committee Democrats sent a letter to Trump demanding that he abandon any illegal schemes to dismantle or privatize the USPS.
The Democrats, led by ranking member Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), wrote in part:
The Postal Service functions as an independent, self-sustaining agency that relies on its own revenues, not Congress, to fund the postal network.
Your unprecedented and reckless plan to dismantle the Postal Service as an independent agency would directly undermine the affordability and reliability of the U.S. postal system.
This short-sighted effort will do nothing to improve delivery performance or set the Postal Service on a path of fiscal sustainability. It could instead subject the Postal Service and the entire mail network to political interference, shifting priorities of Administrations, and skyrocketing prices. Congress prescribed a clear and critical mandate for the Postal Service: to deliver efficient, reliable, and universal service to all Americans.
Your reported plans for the Postal Service would put at risk the timely, affordable delivery of life-saving medications, mail-in ballots, important financial documents, and letters from loved ones, especially in rural or less profitable areas that the private sector refuses to service.
The Administration’s plans also threaten to upend the oversight and pricing of the mail. For example, all rate changes must be submitted through and approved by the congressionallyauthorized and independent Postal Regulatory Commission.
Your plan would put at risk the independence and nonpartisan actions of the Postal Regulatory Commission and the Postal Service, 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. We urge you to immediately withdraw all plans to dismantle one of our nation’s most cherished public institutions and uphold the Postal Service’s independent status as required by law.
Trump tried numerous times during his first term as president to destabilize, harm, and turn the public against the USPS.
