Letter to Mr. Louis DeJoy, Postmaster General - Tester, Colleagues to Dejoy: Usps Operational Changes Disproportionately Harm Deployed Servicemembers

Letter

Dear Mr. DeJoy:
As it has become more obvious that your oversight of the postal service is severely
distressing the domestic mail system, we urge you to consider the impact of your recent changes
to United States Postal Service (USPS) policy and operations on the 1.3 million servicemembers
and their families who serve both domestically and overseas. USPS is the only service that can
deliver to the Army Post Office (APO) and Fleet Post Office (FPO) addresses used by our
military overseas. While your recent suspension of operational changes is a necessary first step
and needed course correction, it is insufficient and unclear that this suspension will mitigate the
damage that has already been done to the postal system, and prevent the disruption and harm to
Americans who serve our nation in uniform. We are also concerned that your statements
regarding suspension of these changes are not actually being carried out.
Since your appointment as Postmaster General, you have implemented many harmful
operational and policy changes that have already resulted in mail being delayed in many areas by
weeks. Reports of hiring freezes, scheduling and route changes, reshuffling of leadership,
decommissioning and removal of mail-sorting machines, and other reorganization of operations
have left a once proud and efficient system intentionally hamstrung and severely strained. In fact,
USPS recently sent detailed letters to 46 states warning that it cannot guarantee that all mail-in
ballots will arrive in time to be counted.
Your changes have also had a direct impact on deployed servicemembers who rely on
USPS as the only avenue to deliver mail from the United States to the APO & FPO addresses
used by our military overseas. This population of Americans is disproportionately affected by
any actions that restrict or delay the mail, which is sometimes the only reliable connection they
have with loved ones during their military service. Servicemembers and their families who are
stationed overseas for months and years at a time also depend on the USPS, as do military
families who are stationed domestically, but away from their home of record. Servicemembers
rely on USPS for the delivery of medicines, ballots, bills, and countless other pieces of vital
mail. There are virtually no members of the military who will be unaffected by these changes,
which will negatively impact their quality of life and hamper their ability to communicate with
their family members and loved ones -- ultimately hindering military readiness.
Even more alarming is the reality that servicemembers depend on the mail to exercise
their most important rights as American citizens: the right to vote. Absentee ballots are the only
way that most of the military community can use their constitutionally protected right to cast a
ballot. Making absentee voting more difficult disenfranchises the very Americans who serve and
sacrifice on the front lines in defense of our right to vote and live in a democratic society -- a
cruel irony to our men and women in uniform that must be remedied immediately.
We urge the White House and all Trump Administration officials to reconsider their
opposition to necessary stimulus funding for the USPS during this COVID-19 pandemic. The
Heroes Act, which was passed by the House in May, would provide $25 billion to the USPS and
we must immediately pass this critical funding need.
The USPS is a public service that is critical to all American citizens, particularly our
military. They are depending on us to provide this vital service, and we stand ready to protect it
at all costs.
Sincerely,
_________________________ _________________________
/s/ RICHARD BLUMENTHAL /s/ CHARLES E. SCHUMER
United States Senate United States Senate
_________________________ _________________________
/s/ JACK REED /s/ GARY C. PETERS
United States Senate United States Senate
_________________________ _________________________
/s/ RICHARD J. DURBIN /s/ ELIZABETH WARREN
United States Senate United States Senate
_________________________ _________________________
/s/ SHERROD BROWN /s/ KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND
United States Senate United States Senate
_________________________ _________________________
/s/ TAMMY DUCKWORTH /s/ CHRIS VAN HOLLEN
United States Senate United States Senate
_________________________ _________________________
/s/ RON WYDEN /s/ JON TESTER
United States Senate United States Senate
_________________________ _________________________
/s/ TAMMY BALDWIN /s/ EDWARD J. MARKEY
United States Senate United States Senate
_________________________ _________________________
/s/ BRIAN SCHATZ /s/ AMY KLOBUCHAR
United States Senate United States Senate
_________________________ _________________________
/s/ TINA SMITH /s/ ROBERT P. CASEY, JR.
United States Senate United States Senate
_________________________ _________________________
/s/ MARTIN HEINRICH /s/ MICHAEL F. BENNET
United States Senate United States Senate
_________________________ _________________________
/s/ TOM UDALL /s/ BERNARD SANDERS
United States Senate United States Senate
_________________________ _________________________
/s/ CHRISTOPHER A. COONS /s/ JEFFREY A. MERKLEY
United States Senate United States Senate
_________________________ _________________________
/s/ MAZIE K. HIRONO /s/ SHELDON WHITEHOUSE
United States Senate United States Senate
_________________________ _________________________
/s/ CORY A. BOOKER /s/ MARGARET WOOD HASSAN
United States Senate United States Senate
_________________________
/s/ MARK R. WARNER
United States Senate