House committee piles on criticism of DeJoy’s postal overhaul plans

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a former professor, on Tuesday likened the U.S. Postal Service’s decision to lower performance targets for next year to changing the grading scale for a student with a bad grade instead of helping them improve. 

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, appearing before Raskin and the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, responded that he would give himself a good grade. Later on in the hearing, he said that it would be an “A.”  

The House hearing is another example of bipartisan skepticism and criticism of DeJoy’s 10-year Delivering for America plan to overhaul USPS’ operations to put the postal agency on a sustainable financial future. 

While DeJoy planned for USPS to break even by 2023, it lost $9.5 billion in fiscal 2024, which officials attributed to retiree costs, inflation and declining mail volume. And the agency is projected to lose $6.9 billion in fiscal 2025. 

At the same time, USPS is slowing delivery for some mail to save money and consolidating processing plants; although, some operational changes were paused in the run up to the election and annual holiday busy season. 

Raskin asked USPS inspector general Tammy Hull at Tuesday’s hearing if DeJoy’s plan has improved timeliness and reliability. 

“We haven’t seen that so far,” she said. 

In particular, Raskin seized on service price increases in July and planned ones for January 2025. 

“Under Mr. DeJoy’s leadership, Americans are paying higher prices for worse service,” the committee’s ranking member said. 

The postmaster general argued that he is responding to decades of poor management at USPS. 

“The rapid changes we’ve had to make have not come without consequence in some areas of the nation. And we apologize to those impacted,” he said. “This is the consequence of decades of neglect and inaction. The lift we have is high, and the time we have is little, so we will carry on with caution, but we will carry on.”

Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., who said that he can’t go to the bathroom without a member of Congress sharing a postal horror story, told DeJoy that he appreciates his 10-year plan but is worried about the financial losses. 

“There are lots of areas where there’s going to be significant reform over the next four years. I’m on your side…I am on the side of the Post Office,” he said. “But I’m telling you there are lots of ideas that — I don’t know whether they'll be advantageous or not to the Postal Service…I hope that you’re given an opportunity to implement these reforms. The problem is with the losses.” 

Hull said that the inspector general office would release a report next week on the early impacts of DeJoy’s efforts that modify when mail is picked up at certain locations. She argued that USPS should be more transparent about operational changes. 

“Cost cutting to achieve break even performance can result in disparate impacts to [underserved and rural] communities. Accurate, timely and transparent information about how planned changes will impact these communities is critical to preserve trust in America’s postal service,” she said.