Trump ally and Republican fundraiser named new head of the Postal Service

A USPS sign.
(Image credit: Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images)

Louis DeJoy, a North Carolina businessman who has made large donations to President Trump and the Republican National Committee, will serve as the new postmaster general, the Postal Service's Board of Governors confirmed with The Washington Post on Wednesday.

This puts a Trump ally in charge of an agency that he has been criticizing for years. Trump has accused the Postal Service of not charging Amazon and other companies enough to deliver their packages, calling the agency "a joke" last month and saying it needs to quadruple its shipping prices. The Postal Service said it charges enough, and has to keep its prices competitive.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic and an ongoing decline in first class mail, the Postal Service is projecting a $13 billion revenue shortfall by the end of its fiscal year in September, the Post reports. The agency has said without assistance, it might not be able to make payroll or offer uninterrupted mail service past September.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

As part of the coronavirus relief bill passed in March, the Postal Service can have access to a $10 billion line of credit, and the agency is negotiating over this now with the Treasury Department. Trump has indicated in order to tap this line of credit, the Postal Service must raise its fees, the Post reports.

The Postal Service has long been an apolitical agency, and DeJoy is the first postmaster general in two decades who did not rise up the ranks. DeJoy, who will start on June 15, is the Republican National Convention's finance chairman. Since 2016, he has given more than $2 million to Republican causes and the Trump campaign, Federal Election Commission records show.

The current postmaster general, Megan Brennan, announced her retirement last year, after clashing with the Trump administration over attempts to assert more control over the agency's finances and operations, the Post reports.

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.