President Donald Trump is reportedly eyeing moving mail service under the executive branch and dismantling the United States Postal Service board.
Trump, who has already made several changes to the federal bureaucracy via executive order, is expected to issue an order firing the governing board for the Postal Service and moving the service under the control of the Commerce Department, according to a report from the Washington Post.
The board reportedly held an emergency meeting Thursday on how it could fight an order from the president to disband them.
The American Postal Workers Union expressed their concern over the report, with APWU President Mark Dimondstein calling it 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.”
“Efforts to privatize the Postal Service, in whole or in part, or to strip it of its independence or public service mission, would be of no benefit to the American people. Instead, it would drive up postage rates and lead to reduced service, especially to rural America,” Dimondstein said in a statement.
The report comes days after Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced he would be stepping down after five years. His tenure in the role was marked by bipartisan criticism as he led the USPS out of the coronavirus pandemic.
POSTMASTER GENERAL LOUIS DEJOY ANNOUNCES INTENT TO EXIT USPS
Trump previously floated privatizing the Postal Service, saying in December that “there is talk about that. It’s an idea that a lot of people have liked for a long time.” This is a revival of a plan he had during his first term when he signed an executive order to put the agency on better financial footing. He has not elaborated further publicly on what he plans to do regarding the Postal Service.
Establishing post offices is an explicit authority given to Congress, and any attempt to alter the current governance of the Postal Service via executive order would likely be met with fierce legal challenges.