Oversight Democrats Call on Postmaster General to Deliver Better Service and Fair Prices to Consumers

Washington, D.C. (December 11, 2024)—Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, led Committee Democrats in examining the U.S. Postal Service’s operations and implementation of the Delivering for America plan in a hearing with Trump-appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and Inspector General Tammy Hull.
 

“The Postal Service can reach every address in the United States—that is 167 million residences, businesses, and Postal Office Boxes.  Its value is essential to the whole economy and society—especially to Americans in some of our nation’s hardest-to-reach rural places.  Efficiency, reliability, and stability of the Postal Service are critical to meeting the needs of the public and required for ensuring its long-term survival,” said Ranking Member Raskin in his opening statement.   

Committee Democrats explained how Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s Delivering for America plan has increased customer costs and slowed mail delivery, contrary to the Postmaster General’s promises.

• Ranking Member Raskin pointed out that Mr. DeJoy’s plan “promised Americans excellence in delivery, but the Postal Service is now operating below its 95% target service standard nationwide in every single one of the 50 postal districts in America.”  
   
• Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi stated, “Service standards have unfortunately gone down under [DeJoy’s] tenure.”  He also highlighted that, alongside poorer service, “We’ve seen now six increases during your time in office” affecting the price of stamps and packages. 
   
• Rep. Gerald E. Connolly underlined the Postal Service’s numerous stamp and package price increases alongside worse service under Mr. DeJoy’s Delivering for America plan, pointing out that customers experience rate increases “whether they are businesses, package deliveries, or individual home.  They experience it as inflationary relative to what they were paying previously.  And six or seven rate increases is a lot.” 
   
• Rep. Shontel Brown expressed:  “I am disappointed by USPS’s delayed implementation of major upgrades, its worsening condition, and persistent failure to meet its own on-time delivery standards—particularly in low-income communities.  I think we can agree that this is no way to run a critical agency delivering necessities to individuals in all of our districts.”
   
• Even Republicans criticized Mr. DeJoy’s failure to deliver on promises in his plan.  Rep. Rich McCormick stated:  “Almost every single business I know that wants to send a check out won’t use the U.S. Postal Service anymore.  I won’t use the U.S. Postal Service anymore.  That’s on your watch.  The two major decisions I’ve seen you make—which is on the distribution centers and on employee hiring—have done nothing to mitigate this in real-time ways.”

Committee Democrats emphasized that, despite bipartisan congressional action to help the Postal Service—and Dejoy’s promises to fix it – its financial condition is dire. 

• Ranking Member Raskin stated that under Mr. DeJoy’s leadership, “the Postal Service has increased [its] deficit by 900%” between fiscal years 2022 to 2024.  Ranking Member Raskin later asked Postmaster General DeJoy, “Do you still realistically expect the Postal Service to break even this year or next year, or when will it break even?”  Mr. DeJoy failed to provide a direct response.  Ranking Member Raskin reminded the Postmaster General that his Delivering for America plan originally projected that “the Postal Service would break even by 2023, last year or 2024.” 
   
• Rep. Connolly inquired on whether to call the ten-year Delivering for America plan a success when the Postal Service stands at a $9.5 billion net loss.  In response, Inspector General Hull stated, “I think financially there have been some serious challenges and that's why we are pushing for an increased transparency into the finances of the Postal Service so that those targets and, the trade-offs, can be clearer.”  

Committee Democrats vowed to continue robust oversight to ensure universal service and on-time delivery of mail. 

• Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost urged the Postal Service to remain committed to providing best-in class service to all customers regardless of their geographic location, stating, “The USPS is supposed to be delivering for America, and I want to make sure we're thinking about people like Richmond Heights, and Carver Shores.” 
   
• Rep. Kweisi Mfume focused his line of questioning on the dramatic increase in mail theft, including against seniors, with Mr. DeJoy responding:  “The final thing that I really would hope that I can get some response, but also kind of cooperation with myself and maybe with other Members of Congress are these thefts that occur that affect senior citizens—where their Social Security checks are being stolen, where their mail is being delivered late, when they respond to pay a bill and charge the late fee—not because they've done anything at all, but because of the delivery systems back and forth, and the theft of medicine that so many senior citizens rely on through the mail.  Those are important issues that I would like to believe affect all of us.”
   
• Rep. Greg Casar pressed the Postal Service about effects of extreme heat on the health and safety of letter carriers, including by highlighting the tragic death of a Texas-based letter carrier.  Rep. Casar urged Mr. DeJoy to implement commonsense heat safety protections outlined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, adding: “When the temperature gets above 90 degrees, workers are able to take a 15-minute break every couple of hours and have water readily available to them.  We know how important this kind of protection would be for postal workers on any given day.”
   
• Rep. Summer Lee highlighted issue of undeliverable mail within her district.  She stated:  “The Postal Service is not going to improve its major problems until they actually listen to their customers and their employees.  Right now, it’s clear that you are not doing that.  It’s unacceptable that such a vital part of our country function has become so unreliable and controversial.  They need to do better for the American people.”