RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, LUCA POWELL

On Monday, Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th, tasked President Joe Biden to take action to address controversial changes around the U.S. Postal Service.

In a letter shared with the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Spanberger urged Biden to fill a final vacancy on the Postal Service’s Board of Governors.

The board is a nine-person panel that oversees Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a Donald Trump appointee who has made drastic changes to the American mail service since his appointment in 2020.

“Under the tenure of the current Postmaster General, the American people have seen our most beloved federal agency grossly mismanaged, undermined, and nearly destroyed,” Spanberger wrote in her letter to the president.

Spanberger’s letter cites reporting from The Times-Dispatch, which found that Virginia had the worst delivery rate for first-class mail in the country, a result of consolidation efforts connected to a long-term overhaul of the Postal Service, a project initiated by DeJoy known as Delivering for America.

Delivering for America involves significant consolidation and closure of many American post offices. DeJoy has defended the plan as necessary, saying that he knows of no other way to make the agency financially solvent.

The Postal Service has run at a loss for years, requiring significant bailouts from Congress. The most recent bailout — a $50 billion stimulus — was authorized by Congress in 2022.

Richmond postal operations were the first in the country to receive an overhaul. Those changes took effect in July 2023 and were followed by months of complaints by Virginia residents regarding late, missing and stolen mail.

In early April, an audit from the Postal Service’s internal watchdog agency highlighted shortcomings in the rollout of Delivering for America. Organizational issues had actually ballooned costs in the form of overtime expenses, auditors wrote.

The auditors also expressed doubt that the reforms would lead to the financial savings promised by DeJoy.

More recently, Virginia’s mail delivery has improved marginally. It is no longer the last in the country, having ceded that position to the mail delivery region of Atlanta. Virginia is now only third-worst in the country.

“These findings further underscore the need for a fully staffed governing body to conduct proper oversight of USPS operations, seriously consider Postmaster DeJoy’s fitness for his role, and be prepared to vote on changes in leadership, should that be necessary,” said Spanberger, who is running to be the next governor of Virginia.

Unlike other Cabinet positions, the postmaster general is not under the direct control of the sitting president. The board is the only agency with the power to hire and fire the postmaster general.

Two seats recently became vacant when two other appointee terms expired in December.

In late February, Biden nominated former Labor Department Secretary Marty Walsh to fill one of those vacancies. Walsh has not yet been approved by the U.S. Senate. His appointment was lauded by the National Association of Letter Carriers, a Postal Service union that welcomed him as “a great friend of letter carriers.”

Spanberger is asking the president to “swiftly nominate a member” to fill the final vacancy.

Of the seven sitting members, five are Biden appointees and two are Trump appointees. Federal laws prohibit more than five governors from belonging to one political party.

The board is currently chaired by Trump appointee Roman Martinez.