A new bill would prohibit the USPS from moving forward with a contract for a new fleet of mail trucks unless 75 percent of those trucks are electric.
As postmaster general, Louis DeJoy has been mired in controversy. Appointed in May 2020 after making massive donations to Donald Trump, DeJoy has sought to implement a plan of austerity to the United States Postal Service. Ahead of the 2020 election, during which a record number of Americans voted by mail, DeJoy took a number of actions that slowed down mail service, including prohibiting overtime and decommissioning hundreds of sorting machines.
DeJoy’s most recent controversy has been less publicized: a plan to purchase a fleet of gas-guzzling mail trucks, against the wishes of the Biden administration, for $6 billion.
The purchase would be a large investment in infrastructure that will further climate change and be even more costly in the future. President Biden has stated his goal of having federal agencies phase out the use of gas-powered vehicles. But he has no power over the decisions of the USPS, an independent agency.