- President Donald Trump has had run-ins with the Postal Service before. His first administration recommended privatizing the agency, and he has reportedly flirted with the idea since. The American Postal Workers Union called the potential move “outrageous.”
President Trump could be planning a takeover of the U.S. Postal Service.
Trump is expected to sign an executive order that would fire the governing board of the Postal Service and leave the agency to the Commerce Department and its secretary, the Wall Street billionaire Howard Lutnick, six people familiar with the plans told the Washington Post. The Wall Street Journal also later reported the news, citing two government officials.
But the Postal Service’s governing board won’t leave without a fight, according to both reports. The board had an emergency meeting Thursday, retained counsel, and recommended suing the White House if the president moves forward, according to the Washington Post. USPS board members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Two Republican members weren’t there for the emergency meeting, per the Post.
A White House official told Fortune no such executive order is in the works and Lutnick is not pushing for one either.
American Postal Workers Union President Mark Dimondstein released a statement Thursday saying that if the reports are true, “it would be an outrageous, unlawful attack on a storied national treasure, enshrined in the Constitution and created by Congress to serve every American home and business equally.”
“Any attack on the Postal Service would be part of the billionaire oligarch coup, directed not just at the postal workers our union represents, but the millions of Americans who rely on the critical public service our members provide every single day,” he said in the statement.
Dimondstein said privatizing the Postal Service would strip it of its independence—and that would not benefit Americans because it would increase costs and reduce services. He added his union would fight to defend “our national treasure” that “is owned by the people, for the benefit of the people…no matter who sits in the White House or in Congress.”
The U.S. Postal Service is 250 years old. It employs hundreds of thousands of people, and it isn’t the mail provider’s first run-in with Trump. His first administration called for the privatization of the Postal Service, but failed to do so. He has continued to float privatization. In December, then-President-elect Trump met with Lutnick, who was his transition advisor, at Mar-a-Lago to reportedly discuss revamping the Postal Service because of its financial losses.
Rep. Gerald Connolly, ranking member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said in a statement: “Millions of Americans rely on the Postal Service every day to deliver mail, medications, ballots, and so much more. Only the Postal Service delivers everywhere in the United States, no matter how remote.”
“Now two billionaires are following through on their plot, developed at Mar A Lago, to put tax cuts for the rich ahead of everyday Americans who rely on the Postal Service,” he continued. “Privatizing the Postal Service is an attack on Americans’ access to critical information, benefits, and life-saving medical care. It is clear that Trump and his cronies value lining their own pockets more than the lives and connection of the American public.”
The agency has been losing money for years under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who was nominated by the first Trump administration and confirmed by an all-Trump-appointed board. The Republican donor was the first postmaster general in two decades without prior USPS experience. DeJoy actually just announced plans to retire earlier this week.
It’s worth noting Trump blocked federal funding to the Postal Service in August 2020 to discourage the use of mail-in ballots for the 2020 presidential election, which he eventually lost and claimed was stolen from him.
