With the United States Postal Service in the headlines due to concerns over future financing, declining service standards, and a controversial proposed rule restricting vote-by-mail, The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee is poised to rush through the hearings of four nominees to the USPS Board of Governors.
Unlike most other federal agencies, the USPS chief executive – the Postmaster General – is appointed by a Board of Governors rather than directly by the President. But the work of the Governors doesn’t stop there. The Board is tasked with directing the “exercise of power of the Postal Service” and it is required to act “in the public interest generally”.
Despite the vital importance of the body in directing the Postal Service, the Senate committee plans consider four appointments to the Board as part of a package of 13 appointees to a myriad of agencies, over a single day. With that many nominees in such a short time, senators will likely have less than one minute to determine to ask questions about the nominees’ attitudes and qualifications to direct the exercise of power in the Postal Service.
With backgrounds in hedge funds, fintech and commodities trading, hard questions need to be asked about the nominees. One of the nominees is a former waste management executive with a history of troubling business associations.1 We all rely on the Postal Service. Small businesses need it to bring goods to market. Veterans rely on it for medicine. In many isolated communities, it is the only regular service people see. We need senators to take a hard look at these nominees, not just check a box.
We will carry the livestream on this page when the hearing begins at 9am ET, June 17.
1 NY Times: “21 ARE INDICTED ON L.I.; CARTING PLOT IS ALLEGED” https://www.nytimes.com/1984/09/14/nyregion/21-are-indicted-on-li-carting-plot-is-alleged.html
Palm Beach Post: “Palm Beach County commissioners push bid change to help hauling company” https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/local/2012/10/30/palm-beach-county-commissioners-push/7922989007