Highlighting what has been uncovered from various investigations of U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) today urgently wrote to President Joe Biden again calling on him to fire all the Trump-appointed members of the United States Postal Service (USPS) Board of Governors to allow the board the opportunity to remove DeJoy and end his destructive leadership of America’s cherished Post Office.
“There is perhaps no body more trusted by the public and upon which more Americans rely every day. That trust and that agency have been frayed. Americans’ faith in their Post Office must be restored,” Pascrell writes President Biden. “As these revelations further undermine public confidence in USPS, I again urge you to take decisive action by removing members of the postal Board of Governors who continue to support DeJoy’s tenure before it’s too late.”
Conflicts of interest, or the appearance of conflicts, have been pervasive at the USPS under DeJoy. A blockbuster report recently revealed that USPS had awarded a $120 million contract to XPO Logistics, a company formerly led by DeJoy. This agreement comes to light as DeJoy pursues a disastrous plan to remake the Post Office while under federal criminal investigation himself. And late last week, a Washington Post piece uncovered that DeJoy invested up to $305,000 through Brookfield Asset Management, where USPS Board of Governors Chairman Ron Bloom serves as Vice Chairman and Managing Partner.
On January 25, 2021, Pascrell became the first member of Congress calling on President Biden to fire the entire Postal Board of Governors sitting before his election for their silence and complicity in DeJoy’s ongoing sabotage of postal operations. In February, Pascrell immediately praised the nominations by President Biden of the three new nominees to the USPS Board of Governors and on March 18, Pascrell and Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-VA-11) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR-03) led over 50 House Democrats urging Biden to immediately remove the then-sitting USPS Board of Governors.
Since this postal crisis began, Rep. Pascrell has aggressively demanded accountability from USPS. On May 21, 2020, Pascrell wrote to USPS Inspector General Tammy Whitcomb demanding an investigation of turmoil at the USPS, stemming from a pattern of interference engineered by the Trump administration in its efforts to destabilize the post office.
On August 14, 2020 Pascrell became the first member of Congress to call for DeJoy and Trump to be investigated by a state criminal grand jury for their dismantling the Post Office, making a criminal referral to New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal alleging Trump and DeJoy subverted state elections.
On September 30, 2020 Pascrell led members of the New Jersey Congressional Delegation in a letter to Postmaster General DeJoy demanding an emergency visit to the Dominic Daniels mail sorting center in Kearny and requesting information on USPS’s ability to carry out New Jersey’s all vote-by-mail general election. In October, Pascrell made a surprise appearance at the Daniels Facility and demanded access.
