USPS head Louis DeJoy steps down as Trump officials consider Postal Service overhaul
U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is stepping down, the head of the country’s mail service confirmed in a statement on Monday.
Deputy Postmaster General Doug Tulino is set to head USPS until the Postal Service’s governing board names a successor.
“I believe strongly that the organization is well positioned and capable of carrying forward and fully implementing the many strategies and initiatives that comprise our transformation and modernization,” DeJoy said in the statement released Monday evening that referred to his “intention to retire.”
Last month, he asked the USPS Board of Governors in a letter to start a search for a new postmaster general.
DeJoy’s exit comes after he agreed earlier this month to allow the DOGE team of President Trump’s billionaire adviser Elon Musk to help find “further efficiencies” at USPS.
His controversial term is ending weeks after Trump, speaking at the White House, confirmed that his administration is considering having the Commerce Department take control of what Congress set up to be an independent postal service, which Trump has long criticized for its troubled finances. Legal experts say any attempt to bring USPS under the White House’s control would likely violate the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, which transformed what was known as the Post Office Department, a cabinet-level agency, into “an independent establishment of the executive branch.”
Trump has also signaled support for privatizing the country’s mail service, sparking protests across the country by unions of postal workers in recent weeks.
DeJoy was appointed to lead the Postal Service during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and has overseen the rise of voting by mail for two presidential elections. In 2021, DeJoy rolled out a 10-year reorganization plan in an attempt to bring financial stability to the postal system. Critics of the plan, however, say that consolidating mail processing centers and other changes have slowed service, especially in rural communities.
Edited by Padmananda Rama
Senate approves cuts to NPR, PBS and foreign aid programs
The Senate voted to approve a $9 billion rescission package aimed at clawing back money already allocated for public radio and television.
Gulf Coast braces for flooding as storm builds into possible tropical depression
The weather system moving across the Florida Panhandle on Wednesday was showing a greater chance of becoming a tropical depression as it moves toward the northern Gulf Coast.
White House says U.S. fentanyl overdose programs will be funded ‘in increments’
CDC staffers worry $140 million in grants could fail to reach state and local overdose programs. The White House officials say the dollars will arrive but won't say when.
Thousands of veterans get help from Congress to save their homes from foreclosure
A bipartisan Congress has come to the rescue of vets at risk of losing their homes, after administrations from both parties tore up VA safety nets for homeowners.
Clawing back foreign aid is tied to ‘waste, fraud and abuse.’ What’s the evidence?
As the Senate prepares to vote on a bill to rescind $40 billion in promised foreign aid, critics of the measure say a thorough governmental review of targeted programs did not actually take place.
How a third parent’s DNA can prevent an inherited disease
An experimental technique that patches defective DNA with donated genetic material helped families at risk of passing rare illnesses to their children.
