President Biden is close to getting Louis DeJoy removed as Postmaster General, which would end a rocky 18-month tenure for the Trump appointee and would-be reformer who, it was frequently noted, was a major donor to the campaign of the former president, as well as 2020 RNC finance chair.
According to the Washington Post, the White House on Friday confirmed that Biden was nominating Daniel Tangherlini, former General Services Administration administrator under President Obama, to the U.S. Postal Service board of governors, to replace chairman and DeJoy ally Ron Bloom.
In addition, Biden has nominated Derek Kan, former deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, who would replace board member John Barger. The nominations now go to the U.S. Senate for confirmation.
There are now four Democrats, four Republicans and one independent on the nine-member board of governors, three of whom have been appointed by Biden and the rest by Trump. Observers believe the new appointments will shift the balance of power away from DeJoy and could lead to a vote to remove him.
DeJoy’s ten-year “delivering for America” plan, unveiled in July, has come under intense fire from Democrats in Congress due to its introduction of reduced service levels for First Class mail and packages in a cost-cutting move. DeJoy and supporters see it as a way to overhaul the agency’s operations and stem the red ink over time.
In June, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has launched an investigation into past political fundraising efforts of DeJoy, raising the volume of Democratic calls for his ouster even as he works to enact the major postal reforms.
The USPS, which is $206 billion in debt, $30 billion coming under DeJoy’s tenure, reported a $4.9 billion net loss for fiscal 2021 earlier this month, down from $9.2 billion in 2020. Shipping and package revenue increased $3.5 billion or 12.2% to $32 billion.