Make Trump Pay for Trying to Stamp Out the Postal Service

The Revolving Door Project, a Prospect partner, scrutinizes the executive branch and presidential power. Follow them at therevolvingdoorproject.org.

Last month, the U.S. Postal Service was thrust into the headlines again when the Supreme Court temporarily blocked President Trump’s new restrictions on mail-in voting.

Though seven of the justices upheld an injunction against the Postal Service’s new mail-in ballot rule, at least one—Brett Kavanaugh—seemed willing to revisit the matter after the midterms. The rule itself, which legal experts have argued goes far beyond the Postal Service’s statutory authority, remains on the books.

Looming in the background is the uncertain future of the Postal Service itself. Upon returning to office, Trump again called for its privatization. A leaked Wells Fargo memo shows corporate investors remain eager to strip-mine USPS for its lucrative real estate and delivery network. The Postal Service’s ten-year “Delivering for America” restructuring plan has failed to meet its targets amid a looming financial cliff.

David Steiner, the former FedEx board member handpicked by Trump to succeed Louis DeJoy as postmaster general, is reportedly already eyeing the exits.

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Caught in the crosshairs are the millions of Americans who depend on a well-functioning public Postal Service, from small businesses that rely on affordable postage to seniors who need timely delivery of medications. Public opinion surveys have consistently found it to be among the most popular government agencies across the partisan divide.

This presents a unique opportunity for Democrats should they retake control of Congress after the midterms. With a suite of oversight powers at their disposal, they could make the Postal Service a case study in how Trump’s corrupt leadership and austerity agenda are hurting the American people—and what a bold Democratic vision could deliver.

Expose the Failed Ten-Year Plan

Postal oversight presents Democrats with an opportunity to expose the failed record of Trump’s postmasters general, who have inadvertently demonstrated what running the post office like a business looks like in practice.

Start by folding postal oversight into the affordability agenda. Under the DeJoy/Steiner ten-year restructuring plan, the Postal Service has drastically hiked postage rates to try to improve its finances. The cost of a first-class “forever” stamp has jumped nearly 50 percent since 2020, while the Priority Mail Flat Rate package suite has seen 70 to 80 percent price hikes. Since April, the Postal Service has added an 8 percent surcharge to offset the Iran war–induced spike in fuel prices—and has just added another temporary increase for the holiday season that took effect this month.

Postage hikes have been particularly devastating for small businesses and e-commerce shops, which must either take the hit to their margins or pass on the increased costs to consumers. Many sellers on sites like eBay and Etsy fear the price hikes will kill their livelihoods. Democrats would do well to hear their testimony in public hearings. They should also grill members of the Postal Regulatory Commission, which has final say over postage rate increases. The PRC has previously admitted the agency’s financial woes cannot be resolved using price hikes alone.

The ten-year plan’s aggressive cost-cutting has also led to chronic nationwide mail delays. According to the Government Accountability Office (Congress’s own watchdog agency), the Postal Service’s cutbacks on mail collection hours and its shift from air to ground transportation have fueled the ongoing mail delays, particularly in rural areas. Longtime USPS advocate Steve Hutkins has also cited the agency’s deliberate lowering of on-time service standards and prioritization of Amazon and UPS last-mile deliveries as key factors. The spate of closures of historic post offices in rural and small towns has made the problem even worse.

These delays have been particularly harmful for the sick and elderly, who depend on timely delivery of prescription medications and Social Security payments. They have frequently led to heated exchanges between postal leadership and members of Congress (including some Republicans) at hearings. Congressional Democrats could go a step further, inviting residents of affected states like Wisconsin, Vermont, and Georgia to testify before the nation on how the delays have personally hurt them.

Democratic legislators could also travel on fact-finding missions to communities affected by mail delays and hold public events with customers, small businesses, and postal workers. A savvy digital media outreach strategy would complement these efforts, especially in connecting with younger users of online marketplaces like Etsy, Mercari, and Depop.

Hold the Postal Board Accountable

Democrats should also use formal oversight powers to directly question the Postal Board of Governors, the main governing body of USPS, about Trump’s attempted power grab. According to reporting by ProPublica, some board members fought Trump’s initial takeover plans for the agency (such as having Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick oversee it) but backed off after the Supreme Court’s Trump v. Slaughter ruling, which gave the president complete power to reconstitute the membership of formerly independent agencies.

Democrats could call on the four current board members (all Biden nominees) to publicly disclose what Trump has privately demanded of them, and get their on-record testimony about whether USPS had the legal authority to issue the mail-in ballot rule that Trump sought. Of particular interest here is board chair Amber McReynolds, an independent whose term expires at the end of the year and who worked as a vote-by-mail advocate before joining the board.

Public hearings would also offer a venue to pressure the board to rescind the mail-in ballot rule, which voting rights advocates have tried to do at the board’s restrictive quarterly meetings. Hearings could also feature testimony from Postal Service whistleblowers who have alleged court orders against the rule were being violated by Trump’s postal leaders. Democrats should also probe the board’s complicity in the decline of USPS. With rare exceptions, the postal governors have not stood up to the postmaster general when his agenda has undermined the public interest.

Senate Democrats can also use oversight hearings to raise the bar for confirmation to the board. For years, presidents have either filled board seats with corporate insiders or let vacancies go unfilled. Barack Obama failed to appoint his own majority to the Postal Board, instead renominating a group of Bush-era holdovers that featured a payday lending lobbyist. While Joe Biden did manage to fill five of the board’s nine seats, his revolving-door appointees ended up largely deferring to DeJoy’s priorities.

Trump, by contrast, has swiftly moved to take over the board. He has nominated four Republicans (including three election deniers) to vacant seats, breaking with the long-standing convention of offering nominees in bipartisan pairs. His corporatist picks have received widespread opposition for their lack of postal experience. Whether their nominations are voted on in this Congress or the next, Democrats should rally public opposition to any more rubber stamps for austerity or voter suppression.

Toward a People’s Post Office

To counter Trump’s approach, Democrats could use their oversight platforms to articulate an expansive alternative vision for what the Postal Service could deliver.

Under the 2022 Postal Service Reform Act, USPS can expand its revenue stream by providing various non-postal government services at post offices, such as selling bus and subway passes or issuing hunting and fishing licenses. Yet postal leadership has been slow to invoke its new powers. In a May 2026 report, the Postal Service’s own inspector general urged the agency to develop a “unified strategic roadmap” for expanding services via the postal network, such as hosting DMV and IRS kiosks in post offices or leasing rooftop space for 5G and broadband infrastructure.

Other ideas could come from the “People’s Postal Agenda,” a 2021 road map drafted by a coalition of postal advocates. Its creative proposals include offering electric-vehicle charging stations at post offices or partnering with grocery stores and food banks for home deliveries.

One of the most popular reform ideas is restoring postal banking. This service was offered from the 1910s until the late 1960s, ceasing amid lobbying pressure from private lenders. Consumer finance experts like Mehrsa Baradaran argue restoring it could be a lifeline for the millions of Americans who are unserved or underserved by Wall Street banks. A 2021 pilot program, which was offered at only four USPS locations, fizzled out due to its limited scope and near-nonexistent promotion by postal leadership. While full restoration of postal banking would take an act of Congress, Democrats already have legislation waiting in the wings. The Postal Banking Act, co-authored by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), would allow USPS to offer checking and savings accounts, ATMs, mobile banking, and low-interest loans—creating nearly $19 billion in annual revenue for the agency.

A broader argument Democrats should embrace is challenging the absurd notion that USPS should be a profit-focused enterprise at all, rather than an essential public service like national parks, libraries, or the military. This was how we treated the post office for nearly 200 years, until a 1970 wildcat strike by postal workers led Richard Nixon to strip the agency of its cabinet-level status. Today, the Postal Service is required by law to be entirely self-funded through postage and service fees, without a cent of direct taxpayer funds (save for the occasional emergency aid package from Congress). This outdated funding model has left USPS ill-equipped in a world where email has largely replaced mailed letters and retirees’ pension benefits remain a steep financial hurdle.

What cannot be put on a balance sheet is the immeasurable public good that only a public Postal Service can provide. Among the nation’s couriers, it is the only one with a legal mandate to provide affordable and reliable service to every single ZIP code in America—no matter how rural or remote.

Paired with new revenue streams, restoring the Postal Service’s cabinet department status would go a long way toward alleviating the agency’s financial burden through annual appropriations. More importantly, it would give Democrats a chance to contrast their broad vision of the common good with Trump’s desire to sell every public service to the highest bidder.

Focusing on the Postal Service presents them with an opportunity to show the American people not just which authoritarian Trump schemes Democrats will fight against, but also which big affirmative ideas they will fight for.