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Hi,
Last week, President Biden signed historic legislation to fund and strengthen the U.S. Postal Service. This is legislation that Demand Progress and our coalition partners fought long and hard for alongside progressives like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and we won.1
But there's still one very, very big problem. The man in charge of implementing this law is Louis DeJoy, Donald Trump's scandalous postmaster general.
DeJoy is under investigation for campaign finance law violations and conflicts of interest.2,3 His mail delivery slowdowns threatened to undermine the 2020 presidential election.4 He's refusing to follow White House and EPA orders to transition to electric vehicles.5
When Donald Trump was removed from the White House, most of his cronies went with him. But Louis DeJoy keeps hanging on like a bad stench that won't go away.
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Louis DeJoy has been a disaster for the U.S. Postal Service from the minute Donald Trump picked him.
On-time mail delivery declined from 92% to 61% while postal rates went up.6 In the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election, as an unprecedented number of voters prepared to vote by mail because of the pandemic, DeJoy ordered cuts to overtime and presided over the removal of nearly 700 high-speed mail sorters.7
Now, he's defying the White House and EPA by spending billions on polluting, gas-powered mail trucks that get less than 9 miles per gallon.8
You might be wondering… how did this guy get hired to run the Postal Service in the first place? Turns out, Louis DeJoy is a major fundraiser for Trump and the Republican Party. And he's under FBI investigation for a criminal straw donor scheme whereby he reimbursed employees for donations made to the GOP.9
Polls show that the U.S. Postal Service is one of the most popular government agencies, so if we can generate enough public attention, this is a fight we can win. Demand Progress has driven in more than 200,000 signatures to Congress and the Biden administration urging them to act, and we need to keep the pressure on.
Thanks for standing with us,
Robert and the team at Demand Progress
PS: Your contributions keep us nimble and prepared to take on important fights like these as they happen. Will you become a monthly donor to keep our work going?
Sources:
1. Daily Mail, "Biden signs new bill to overhaul the Postal Service surrounded by Democrats including AOC and Rashida Tliab – with Trump-appointed postmaster general Louis DeJoy pushed to the BACK of the room," April 6, 2022.
2. The Washington Post, "FBI investigating Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in connection with past political fundraising," June 3, 2021.
3. Salon, "DeJoy may have violated conflict of interest law by profiting off USPS Covid tests: watchdog group," April 1, 2022.
4. The Washington Post, "USPS processed 150,000 ballots after Election Day, jeopardizing thousands of votes," November 6, 2020.
5. The New York Times, "Democrats Want Investigation Into Postal Service’s Gas Guzzlers Contract," March 14, 2022.
6. The Independent, "Katie Porter decimates Louis DeJoy’s leadership of USPS with a sharpie," November 16, 2021.
7. HuffPost, "DeJoy Says Mail Sorting Machines Were Stripped For Parts And Can't Be Reinstalled," September 25, 2020.
8. Mother Jones, "Defying Logic and Biden, Louis DeJoy Gets His Gas-Guzzling Mail Trucks," February 23, 2022.
9. The Washington Post, "Louis DeJoy’s rise as GOP fundraiser was powered by contributions from company workers who were later reimbursed, former employees say," September 6, 2020.
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