Alex Edelman/Pool via AP
First100-022421
Rep. Carolyn Maloney is more concerned with postal reform legislation than the saboteur inside the Postal Service.
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The Chief
If you’re reading this Wednesday morning, the House Oversight Committee is taking testimony from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, Postal Service Board of Governors chair Ron Bloom, and other stakeholders on the future of the post office. As someone who has tried to put three holds on my mail in the last two months without success I have a personal interest in the matter.
Amazingly, DeJoy still has a job, despite slow delivery times that have persisted, not just after the election but after the holiday rush. Again, as someone who just got Christmas cards delivered to my house in the last week, I have a personal interest. Union officials are pointing to the pandemic, and thousands of postal workers under quarantine. That’s an argument to get them vaccinated as essential workers, but of course the mail was being delivered decently enough after the pandemic but before DeJoy was installed over the summer and began changing procedures.
DeJoy remains in place because only the Board of Governors can fire him, and with three vacancies on the board it remains under Republican control, with all of its members nominated by Donald Trump. Biden could fill the three vacancies and shift the balance of power on the board, or he could fire the entire board for cause and start over. (Or maybe fire everyone but Ron Bloom, a token progressive on a board that must be bipartisan, and let him handle the Postmaster General position.) Either way, that’s what it would take to dump DeJoy.
But a disturbing piece from CNN suggests that Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), who is chairing the Oversight Committee hearing, is cautioning against firing DeJoy, in the hopes that she can get his support for a bipartisan reform bill. Maloney’s colleague, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), who runs the Oversight subcommittee that includes the Postal Service in its jurisdiction, wants DeJoy gone.
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The idea that you need DeJoy’s help to get a bill that removes financial hindrances and puts the agency on solid financial footing is unfounded. The pre-funding requirement is unpopular, and I’d be hard-pressed to name a single Democrat who would object to removing it, not to mention several Republicans. “We will not be delayed or deterred from our North star… of putting the Postal Service on solid financial footing for years to come,” Maloney said in her opening statement of the hearing. What does that have to do with retaining Louis DeJoy?
The problem with DeJoy is that he’s sabotaging the Postal Service with his management tactics. His ten-year plan includes higher prices and slower delivery. I don’t see how that changes if the USPS has more money. DeJoy has already failed in his obligations, and the idea that he brings along Republicans to a reform bill is dubious.
Every day of delay is critical. The Postal Service just signed a 10-year contract for new vehicles, which, yes, are adorable, but only some of the 165,000 vehicles will be fully electric, with others gas-powered. This is in direct contradiction to President Biden’s executive order to fully electrify the government vehicle fleet. Why is this being allowed to stand? (DeJoy said in his opening statement that he would “see if our electric vehicle goals can be accelerated.”)
Biden has said almost nothing about DeJoy while in office, with the administration only promising to “work as quickly as possible to fill board vacancies.” Maybe work quicker, and give Maloney a call on this. Working with DeJoy like he’s a normal public official is really dumb.
The Tweets Get You Every Time
The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee has canceled a hearing scheduled for today to vote on Neera Tanden’s nomination for director of the Office of Management and Budget. The Senate Budget Committee, which also has jurisdiction, canceled their hearing as well.
In Washington-speak, that basically means it’s over. There’s no reason for Senators to take votes on a nominee that doesn’t have enough support to be confirmed. Unless Biden manages to turn around Joe Manchin or one Republican, Tanden will not be running OMB. And there likely won’t be a vote, but a withdrawal.
There’s a tick-tock on how the White House “botched” the nomination, but it’s probably too narrative-friendly. I don’t think it took long for the administration to realize this was going to be a problem nomination. Pretty much every new president loses a cabinet nominee. I’m not saying Tanden was a sacrificial lamb, and frankly mean tweets shouldn’t sink anybody (there are plenty of other reasons Tanden wasn’t the best choice). But the possibility of a problem was pretty well understood early on. The sense that this was a Ron Klain special could be correct, but his belief in bulldozing Tanden through wasn’t universal.
It’s not for nothing that there was already a pool of replacements ready within minutes of Manchin’s announcement. We have reported that Gene Sperling is a likely candidate, hinting that this backup had been in place for a while. Sperling is a Clinton/Obama expat who has drifted left over the years; his latest book on the dignity of work is quite progresive. Ann O’Leary, who most recently was chief of staff to California Governor Gavin Newsom, is also on the short list; she has been a longstanding champion of paid family leave. House Democrats, particularly the Congressional Black Caucus, are pushing Shalanda Young, already nominated as the deputy OMB director. The first two are more likely.
OMB will be fine, but what of the future of heavy-frequency Twitter posters?
What Day of Biden’s Presidency Is It?
Day 36.
Today I Learned
- The FDA has deemed the Johnson & Johnson one-shot vaccine safe and effective. I’d expect doses to be shipped by the weekend. (Wall Street Journal)
- It turns out California has its own homegrown mutation to deal with, explaining much of the outbreak this winter. (Los Angeles Times)
- Tim Wu at the National Economic Council is great news, though DoJ is closer to the action, and the Big Tech expats are rolling in there, our Alex Sammon reported yesterday. (Politico; The American Prospect)
- Senate Democrats going wobbly on the minimum wage, while Republican propose a $10/hour fallback. (Wall Street Journal; USA Today)
- Are the moderates coming for the state and local fiscal aid next? (Washington Post)
- Today’s executive order on supply chains is pretty meaningless, just two reviews. (Associated Press)
- What the bond market is telling us about the Biden economy. (New York Times)
- The banks no longer need capital relief, they’re making record profits. Time to remove it. (American Banker)
