Controversial Postmaster General Louis DeJoy tells House Democrats to 'get used' to him during heated hearing - as Joe Biden moves to take control of board that can fire him
The Trump-appointed U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform committee Wednesday, rebuffing calls from Democrats to step down.
'Get used to it,' he told Democratic lawmakers, saying he planned to be in charge of the agency 'a long time.'
Democrats are urging President Joe Biden to fire the current Postal Board members and install individuals who could remove DeJoy. On Wednesday afternoon, the White House announced three nominees to fill the three current vacancies on the Postal Board.
U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy rebuffed calls from Democrats to step down, telling them at a House Oversight hearing Wednesday to 'get used to it,' vowing to be at the Post Office for 'a long time'
Also on Monday afternoon, President Joe Biden announced three nominations for the Postal Board, which has the power to remove DeJoy, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump
Three current members of the Postal Board are Trump appointees and nine serve overall.
DeJoy could be ousted once a majority are Democrats.
Biden chose Anton Hajjar, a former USPS union general counsel, Amber McReynolds, a voting rights activist and Ron Stroman, a former deputy postmaster general, as nominees for the board.
At the hearing, DeJoy told lawmakers that U.S. mail system is losing $10 billion a year and urgently needs reform and legislative relief from Congress.
'I would suggest that we are on a death spiral,' said DeJoy, who did not rule out changing first-class deliver standards or other significant changes.
DeJoy, a supporter of former President Donald Trump appointed to head the Postal Service last year, suspended operational changes in August after heavy criticism over postal delays.
He plans to release a new 10-year strategic 'break-even' plan soon.
Delays in paychecks and other mail deliveries by the Postal Service, or USPS, gained attention this summer as a record number of voters mailed in ballots to elect a new president.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney made the case for action as the USPS faces shrinking volumes of first-class mail, increased costs of employee compensation and benefit, and higher unfunded liabilities and debt.
New Postal Board chairman Ron Bloom, who said that the USPS is currently projected to lose $160 billion over the next decade, told lawmakers 'we can´t just throw money at the problem.
We must address the systemic issues plaguing its outdated model.'
The USPS reported net losses of $86.7 billion from 2007 through 2020.
One reason is 2006 legislation mandating that it pre-fund more than $120 billion in retiree health care and pension liabilities, a requirement labor unions have called an unfair burden not shared by other businesses.
Maloney has circulated draft legislation on some USPS financial issues, such as eliminating a requirement to pre-fund retiree health benefits and require postal employees to enroll in government-retiree health plan Medicare, for a saving of $40 to $50 billion over 10 years.
'The Postal Service is facing a dire financial situation that requires us to act,' she said.
DeJoy said the reform bill alone 'doesn't solve the problem.'
Bloom said the USPS will ask the Biden administration to calculate pension obligations 'using modern actuarial principles' that would save another $12 billion.
Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, urged Congress to award the USPS an additional $15 billion and called for a separate 'modernization grant' of $25 billion.
In December, Congress converted a $10 billion U.S. Treasury loan to the USPS into a grant.
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