Whisperings of privatizing the United States Postal Service (USPS) began before President Trump took office. He mentioned it in December 2024 (he had floated the idea in his first term as well) but by February 2025 decided it would not be pursued. While Elon Musk was apparently disagreed with that decision, discussions of USPS reform inside the administration have not included privatization.
And if anyone brings up privatization again, the House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Government Operations hearing on the USPS on June 24, 2025, put a nail in its coffin. Every witness at the hearing and every member in attendance agreed that privatization, which cannot be achieved without congressional approval, is not an option to fix the Postal Service’s myriad financial and delivery issues.
Subcommittee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) spent several minutes discussing privatization and said it should not be mentioned again: “Does it do us any good to throw that word out there, if we really know that we’re not going to privatize the postal service? … I think there needs to be a structure without it called privatization. … I’m hoping that we can talk about this without an assertion that we’re trying to get rid of [the US Postal Service] or […] privatize it because we’re not.” Ranking Member Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.) said that USPS “is not for sale.”
