[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
WAITING ON THE MAIL: POSTAL SERVICE
STANDARD DROPS IN CHICAGO AND THE
SURROUNDING AREA
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND REFORM
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
OCTOBER 15, 2021
__________
Serial No. 117-47
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Oversight and Reform
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available at: govinfo.gov,
oversight.house.gov or
docs.house.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
46-023 PDF WASHINGTON : 2022
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COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND REFORM
CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York, Chairwoman
Eleanor Holmes Norton, District of James Comer, Kentucky, Ranking
Columbia Minority Member
Stephen F. Lynch, Massachusetts Jim Jordan, Ohio
Jim Cooper, Tennessee Paul A. Gosar, Arizona
Gerald E. Connolly, Virginia Virginia Foxx, North Carolina
Raja Krishnamoorthi, Illinois Jody B. Hice, Georgia
Jamie Raskin, Maryland Glenn Grothman, Wisconsin
Ro Khanna, California Michael Cloud, Texas
Kweisi Mfume, Maryland Bob Gibbs, Ohio
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York Clay Higgins, Louisiana
Rashida Tlaib, Michigan Ralph Norman, South Carolina
Katie Porter, California Pete Sessions, Texas
Cori Bush, Missouri Fred Keller, Pennsylvania
Danny K. Davis, Illinois Andy Biggs, Arizona
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida Andrew Clyde, Georgia
Peter Welch, Vermont Nancy Mace, South Carolina
Henry C. ``Hank'' Johnson, Jr., Scott Franklin, Florida
Georgia Jake LaTurner, Kansas
John P. Sarbanes, Maryland Pat Fallon, Texas
Jackie Speier, California Yvette Herrell, New Mexico
Robin L. Kelly, Illinois Byron Donalds, Florida
Brenda L. Lawrence, Michigan
Mark DeSaulnier, California
Jimmy Gomez, California
Ayanna Pressley, Massachusetts
Mike Quigley, Illinois
Russell Anello, Staff Director
Wendy Ginsberg, Subcommittee on Government Operations Staff Director
Amy Stratton, Deputy Chief Clerk
Contact Number: 202-225-5051
Mark Marin, Minority Staff Director
------
Subcommittee on Government Operations
Gerald E. Connolly, Virginia, Chairman
Eleanor Holmes Norton, District of Jody B. Hice, Georgia Ranking
Columbia Minority Member
Danny K. Davis, Illinois Fred Keller, Pennsylvania
John P. Sarbanes, Maryland Andrew Clyde, Georgia
Brenda L. Lawrence, Michigan Andy Biggs, Arizona
Stephen F. Lynch, Massachsetts Nancy Mace, South Carolina
Jamie Raskin, Maryland Jake LaTurner, Kansas
Ro Khanna, California Yvette Herrell, New Mexico
Katie Porter, California
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held on October 15, 2021................................. 1
Witnesses
Mr. Eddie Morgan, Jr., Executive Postmaster, U.S. Postal Service
Oral Statement................................................... 18
Ms. Melinda Perez, Deputy Assistant Inspector General, USPS
Office of Inspector General
Oral Statement................................................... 20
Mr. Mack Julion, President, National Association of Letter
Carriers
Oral Statement................................................... 22
Written opening statements and statements for the witnesses are
available on the U.S. House of Representatives Document
Repository at: docs.house.gov.
Index of Documents
Documents entered into the record for this hearing, and Questions
for the Record, QFR's are listed below.
* Postal Service Office of Inspector General Report; submitted
by Rep. Rush.
* Reports regarding audit on mail delivering and customer
service; operational changes to mail delivery; nationwide
service performance; and service performance first-class single
piece letter mail; submitted by Chairman Connolly and Rep.
Rush.
* Comments regarding individuals' concerns of Debra
Silverstein, two alderman, and Maria Haddon; submitted by Rep.
Schakowsky.
* Statements for the record from the National Newspaper
Association; submitted by Rep. Connolly.
* Letters regarding constituent concerns; submitted by Rep.
Davis.
* Questions for the Record: to Morgan-USPS; submitted by
Chairman Connolly.
* Questions for the Record: to Perez-UPSP; submitted by
Chairman Connolly.
The documents are available at: docs.house.gov.
WAITING ON THE MAIL: POSTAL SERVICE
STANDARD DROPS IN CHICAGO AND THE
SURROUNDING AREA
----------
Friday, October 15, 2021
House of Representatives
Committee on Oversight and Reform
Subcommittee on Government Operations
Washington, D.C.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 11:04 a.m.
C.T., in Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, 219 South
Dearborn Street, Chicago, Illinois, and via Zoom. The Hon.
Gerald E. Connolly (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Representatives Connolly, Davis, Lawrence, Khanna,
Porter, Krishnamoorthi, Kelly, Quigley, Rush, Schakowsky,
Foster, Schneider, Casten, Garcia, Underwood, Newman, Maloney
(ex officio), and Keller.
Also present: Senator Durbin.
Mr. Connolly. The Postal Service serves every household and
business across this Nation every day, or at least it is
supposed to. It employs 630,000 individuals who live in every
single congressional district. According to Pew Research, 91
percent of Americans have a favorable view of the Postal
Service, making it the most beloved and popular Federal agency.
During the coronavirus pandemic, the Postal Service's value
to this Nation has proven greater than ever. A June 2020 Harris
Poll found that the Postal Service ranked as the, quote,
``single most essential company to Americans during the
pandemic,'' end quote, outranking companies that manufacture
PPE and sanitizers.
According to a recent inspector general report, however,
the Postal Service is not meeting the needs of every customer.
In fact, the Postal Service Office of Inspector General found
that the Postal Service only met service performance targets
for 3 of 33 products in Fiscal Year 2020. Why are service
performance targets important? The inspector general said that
missing delivery goals, quote, ``could result in late fees and
even a drop in credit ratings for consumers, as well as a
disruption in cash-flow for businesses,'' end quote.
They added that late deliveries may drive mailers away from
using the Postal Service to more nimble electronic options.
And, the IG added, quote, ``Once a consumer moves their bill
payment online, they may be unlikely to go back to using the
mail,'' end quote.
Simply put, missing service standards hurts those who rely
on the Postal Service and is ultimately a death sentence for
the struggling agency. Despite the importance of meeting
service standards, in the first three quarters of Fiscal Year
2021, 3-to-5-day mail has been delivered on time only 61
percent. In the first three quarters of Fiscal Year 2021,
magazines were delivered on time only 64 percent. And, while
service standards have improved in recent months, those
improvements are likely attributable to a drastic decrease in
service standard targets. So, in other words, when Louis DeJoy,
the Postmaster General, noticed we weren't meeting targets, he
lowered the targets.
We're here in Chicago today because this area is among the
hardest hit by substandard delivery and because Chicago is a
city with a storied postal history. Charles Lindbergh once
actually flew a postal plane here in Chicago. Our history goes
back to 1831 with the appointment of Chicago's first postmaster
general, an illustrious predecessor of yours, Mr. Morgan.
By 1864, Chicago began at home mail delivery with the
innovation of letter carriers. By the turn of the 20th century,
Chicago's big businesses, like Sears and Montgomery Ward,
relied on the post office to deliver their catalogs and
advertisements that changed retail in America, paving the way
for what is today a $1.6 trillion postal industry that employs
7.3 million people.
In 1966, massive mail delays in Chicago prompted
congressional investigations, which led in 1971 to the law
creating the U.S. Postal Service as an independent
establishment of the executive branch of government. Today's
hearing continues a robust and important tradition of Postal
Service oversight by Congress.
If you look at the screen--and hopefully see something
other than me--there we go. This tells you a lot of what we
need to know. We need to know why, in Chicago, on-time delivery
rates dropped 7.8 percent during the third quarter when
compared to last year's delivery rates. And this calculation
does not factor in the postal services reduced delivery
standards.
In the slide on the screen, you can see that COVID-19 was
declared a public health emergency in late January 2020, but
service standards did not start to plummet until July. So,the
idea that, well, this is all due to the pandemic is not borne
out by the fact that from January to July that is not what
happened, and arguably that was the worst of the pandemic
because we were in strict lockdowns. There were strict
regulations, strict measures being employed to try to keep
people safe. We didn't have vaccines, and, yet, delivery did
pretty well until July.
As the slide also shows, these massive drops in service in
Chicago are substantial and placed the city well below the
national on-time average, but they're not the worst in the
Nation. Baltimore has the largest reduction in service
standards in the country, and you can see that with that very
bottom line. That's Baltimore.
In quarter two of fiscal 2021, two-day mail delivery in
Baltimore was on time only slightly more than half the time,
and 3-to-5-day delivery was on time only 32.4 percent. We
expect and demand more from our Postal Service. To do that, we
need to provide it the resources and staffing it requires to
meet customer needs. Instead, we're witnessing service delay
degradation and price hikes.
Postmaster General DeJoy continues to make consequential
and damaging operational changes in the Postal Service that
affect postal delivery nationwide, and he repeatedly has done
so without conducting the data analyses or customer engagements
required to ensure he's not causing unwitting damage. I've
written four letters just this year to the postmaster general
and the Board of Governors of the Postal Service expressing
grave concerns about these management decisions, fleet
contracts, and conflicts of ethical concern.
I am particularly concerned about his 10-year plan, which
reduces service standards further and increases prices, a novel
business model if successful. The Postal Regulatory
Commission's advisory opinion of that plan to reduce delivery
standards stated, and I quote: It is not clear that the
tradeoff between financial viability and maintaining high-
quality service standards is reasonable, unquote.
DeJoy's actions have, I think, contributed significantly to
the ability of Chicago--in deteriorating Chicago's post offices
and mail deliveries in order to meet customers' needs.
According to the Postal Service Office of Inspector
General, four of Chicago's busiest post offices had difficulty
grasping the scope of their own problems. If you look at the
screen again, you'll see a table from a recent OIG report
showing that four Chicago area post offices undercounted or
delayed mail in their facilities by 59,752 pieces, a 95-percent
undercount, or, in other words, they only got 5 percent right.
And, on the next slide, you can see that these same post
offices underreported nondelivered mail by a 98-percent rate of
under reporting. In other words, they only got 2 percent, which
is kind of stunning. These are letters and packages we're
talking about from family members to celebrate holidays and
birthdays and anniversaries. They are bill payments that
generate late fees for those who are trying to pay on time
during a pandemic, I might add. These are paychecks people rely
on to keep food on the table. We cannot allow this to continue.
Today, we've got witnesses who can help us define the root
problems at these Chicago area postal facilities, and we have
witnesses who need to be part of designing and implementing
solutions.
The issues plaguing Chicago, however, should not be viewed
as anomalies, unfortunately. These service delays are occurring
throughout the United States. We're going to work together as
colleagues to solve these problems and to hopefully change the
governance of the Postal Service to ensure that we have a Board
of Governors and a postmaster general who are, in fact,
dedicated to the mission, which is delivering mail and packages
on a timely and efficient basis to every household and every
business in America every day.
Thank you.
I now call on the ranking minority member, Mr. Keller, who
is on virtually.
Thank you for joining us, Mr. Keller. You are now
recognized for an opening statement.
Mr. Keller. Thank you, Chairman. I appreciate being able to
be here today. Although it's virtually, I appreciate being able
to participate.
Since the founding of our Republic, the United States
Postal Service has been charged with one of the oldest and most
important functions of Federal Government. In many ways, it was
the Postal Service that made the earliest states, including my
home state of Pennsylvania, the second state, become united
because we could communicate across the country. Americans
around the country rely on the Postal Service to deliver to
over 160 million delivery points six days a week for their
medications, bills, and any other kind of correspondence.
Today's hearing is meant to examine the causes of service
delays and how the Postal Service plans to address them. And
the premise is that service delays directly correspond to
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's tenure in 2020, let's make it
perfectly clear, the post office has had issues far before the
current postmaster general has begun his service with the post
office. I'm not here to defend anyone or the Postal Service. I
think there are a lot of things that need to be improved at the
Postal Service since it lost $9.2 billion last year.
And I know the ranking member of the Oversight Committee,
Mr. Comer, and Chairwoman Maloney are working closely with the
Postal Service and the Postmaster General DeJoy to craft a
bipartisan solution to the problems the Postal Service is
facing. However, we're having this hearing to supposedly
examine the root causes of service delays at the Postal Service
without actually having anyone from the Postal Service
leadership explain what is being done.
Republicans are focused on reforming the Postal Service,
and I look forward to the suggestions that today's witnesses
may have. As for the correlation between mail delays and
Postmaster General DeJoy's tenure as postmaster general,
there's another thing that began in 2020: the COVID-19
pandemic. Canceled mail delivery flights, upwards of 14,000 UPS
or United States postal workers calling in sick with COVID
symptoms, a surge in online shopping, and a fundamental shift
in the economy all push the Postal Service infrastructure and
network to the brink.
Are we going to ignore the pandemic to pretend the shift in
Postal Service was just because of Postmaster DeJoy's things he
tried? Are we trying to do this just to try and score political
points?
That approach lacks common sense. The problems that we've
seen in the Postal Service, whether it's revenue or service,
have been going on before that.
When it comes down to tough tasks, even in tough years like
2020, like distributing 99 percent of election mail on time,
the Postal Service has delivered. While conspiracy theories
about moving mailboxes in the middle of the night or sabotaging
a Presidential election using the Postal Service were being
pushed by Members of Congress, the men and women of the Postal
Service did their jobs, and they did it well.
I hope this hearing will be a real conversation about the
Postal Service and how they can best serve both rural regions,
like Pennsylvania's 12th congressional District, as well as
urban areas, like Chicago. It's not the job of Congress to go
to every city or town experiencing a slowdown in mail, and do
the Postal Service's job for them. The issues affecting Chicago
mail are part of a larger, mostly systemic issues in the Postal
Service. We can keep playing partisan games like demanding the
postmaster general or the Board of Governors be fired, but that
isn't going to solve the problems facing people from Chicago,
Pennsylvania, Illinois, or any other Americans.
I'm encouraged to see the chair and the ranking member of
the Oversight Committee working together with the postmaster
general to come up with real solutions to fix the Postal
Service. And I hope this hearing today will contribute to that
effort and not devolve into a blame game. Again, if we look at
what has been going on with the Postal Service, it didn't just
sort of happen overnight. They have been losing money for
years, and we need to make sure that we get to real solutions
that will benefit the people that work at the Postal Service
and the American people that rely on it for timely delivering
of services, of mail, medications, whatever anyone may choose
to use the mail for. Thank you.
And I yield back.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you, Mr. Keller.
And thank you for your opening statement.
The chair now recognizes the distinguished chairwoman of
the full committee, the Committee of Oversight and Reform,
Chairwoman Maloney, for her opening statement.
Chairwoman Maloney, welcome.
Mrs. Maloney. Thank you so much, Chairman Connolly, for
holding this important hearing----
Mr. Connolly. Excuse me one second, Madam Chairwoman. We
want to turn your volume up.
Mrs. Maloney. OK.
Mr. Connolly. There you go.
Mrs. Maloney. Thank you, Chairman Connolly, for holding
this important hearing and Congressman Danny Davis for
requesting the hearing. The Postal Service is one of our
Nation's most cherished institutions. Our dedicated postal
employees deliver to 161 million locations six days a week
regardless of the weather. The Postal Service binds our Nation
together in a way that no other institution can and ensures
that millions of Americans have access to the medications and
other materials they need every day.
Unfortunately, as we all know well, the Postal Service's
performance has been slow and often unreliable since Postmaster
General DeJoy made changes last summer without testing them
first and without communicating fully with employees or
customers.
In many of our districts, we are hearing from constituents
about significant delays in the delivery of mail, medicines,
food, and other supplies. These delays are especially
concerning and potentially life threatening to affect many
Americans, impacting many people who rely heavily on the Postal
Service for essential items. While some of these changes were
reversed, delivery has remained unacceptably slow ever since,
particularly, in cities like Chicago and Baltimore.
We understand that the pandemic has made staffing difficult
for the Postal Service and that it has been facing record-
breaking package volumes, particularly during last year's peak
season in December. But these issues are not insurmountable and
the recent delays are unacceptable. In fact, it is the
responsibility of a Postal Service, and Postmaster General
DeJoy in particular, to find ways to overcome these
difficulties to get the mail delivered on time.
It is--to do this, it is critical that Postal Service
leadership remember that it is not a private business but a
public service. We all want the Postal Service to be
financially viable. That's why we have been working together to
get the Postal Service Reform Act on the floor as soon as
possible. This bipartisan bill, authored by Democrats and
Republicans, would put the Postal Service on a sustainable,
financial footing for years to come.
But allowing service to suffer while at the same time
increasing prices will not increase the public's faith in the
Postal Service. In fact, it might end up pushing people and
businesses away from using the Postal Service. We must not
allow the Postal Service to fail. It must continue providing
the critical services that millions of Americans depend on.
I want to thank the ranking member and the chairman for
calling this hearing, and I look forward to today's discussion.
Thank you, again.
And I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you very much, Chairwoman Maloney. And
thank you for your leadership on this issue, and hopefully we
can all work together to bring that bill, which passed out of
our committee on a bipartisan basis, to the floor soon. Thank
you, again, so much for being with us here today.
Now to welcome us to the Windy City is our colleague, Danny
Davis.
Welcome, Mr. Davis.
Mr. Davis. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Subcommittee Chairman
Connolly, Ranking Member Keller, members of the committee,
Senator Durbin, the Illinois delegation, Postmaster Morgan,
Assistant Inspector General Melinda Perez, Mr. Mack Julion.
Let me begin, first, by thanking Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney
for agreeing to hold this hearing in Chicago to examine
declining delivery standards in the U.S. Postal Service.
Representative Maloney has demonstrated tremendous leadership
of the Oversight Committee, and it is indeed my pleasure to
work with her.
I also want to the thank you, Mr. Chairman, and your staff
for coming to Chicago and for the leadership that you've
provided to the Government Operations Subcommittee.
Given the fact that my first full-time job was working at
the Chicago Post Office for more than a year and then working
short hours for 3 or 4 years, I've always had a great deal of
affinity for the U.S. Postal Service. And when I worked for
that agency, the motto with the group that I worked with was
``Clean hands, gentle touch; surely we owe a letter that
much.''
The U.S. Postal Service has had a long history of excellent
service in the Chicagoland area. However, during the last
decade or so, there seems to have been a continuous downward
spiral in service delivery, employees morale, and community
relationships brought on by a number of contributing factors.
It is my hope that this hearing will put us back on track to
restore the expectations of our public who believe that when
labor groups and management are working cooperatively together,
with mutually shared interest and concerns, that the best of
services will be the result.
So,thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you so much, Mr. Davis.
And it is now a great pleasure for us to welcome the
distinguished Senator from Illinois, Dick Durbin.
Senator Durbin. Thank you very much, Chairman Connolly.
And my special thanks to Danny Davis and Robin Kelly and
all those responsible for this hearing.
Mr. Chairman, it takes a pretty hot topic to bring a
majority of the Illinois congressional delegation together.
You've done it today. If you take a look at the numbers that
have turned out here, it's an indication of what we are hearing
in our offices and have heard for a long, long time. I asked my
office: Give me an example of someone who's contacted us about
mail delivery. Well, they told me the story of June this year
when we were contacted by Teamsters Local 786. They told my
staff that they'd not received any mail since May 20, weeks
before, but that, because of the failure of the Postal Service
to provide service, their members fell out of status with their
insurance due to delay or missing checks. Think of it: In the
middle of a global pandemic, a critical group of frontline
workers were at risk of losing their health coverage because
mail didn't arrive. That is just inexcusable.
So, we think about the mail service and I want to make it
clear: I'm a champion of the Postal Service. I believe in them,
not just because it's a constitutional authority and
responsibility, but because they are good people doing good
work, hard work on a regular basis. I think of, during the
pandemic when I was down at our home in Springfield, Illinois,
looking out the window for Greg to show up with the mail
delivery, sometimes it was dark, eight o'clock at night, and
there he was. Never missed it. Every single darn day, and there
are people across America who count on that letter carrier and
the postal workers who bring that mail to them. It's an
important part of their life. It binds them together and all of
us together as a Nation.
Last night, my wife and I were walking back from visiting
our granddaughter near north side around the Belmont Avenue
area, 7:30 at night I see a cart in the middle of the sidewalk.
It was a delivery cart for some letter carrier, seven o'clock
at night. And I wondered what was going on. I look, he was
inside, and he was feeding mail into the slots for the people
who lived in that building. These folks are working hard, and
they're finding it hard to keep up with some of the demands.
What's it all about? Well, some of it's about COVID. COVID
changed America in a lot of different ways, and I'm sure it
challenged the Postal Service in terms of the health of their
workers and their availability, but COVID was an opportunity
for us to rely more and more on the Postal Service, and we got
to keep that in mind. We're also living in a changing
marketplace: emails over letters, parcels and packages now in
greater volume. My letter carrier down in Springfield said:
Senator, can you believe that today I was delivering boxes of
duct tape as part of my mail delivery? It's just part of what I
do every single day.
There's some other things that are part of this. Retirement
requirements. We all know that as Members of Congress. That's
on us. The amount of money we ask of the Postal Service out of
their operating expenses to prepare for future retirements, I
think it's the highest in Federal Government, and the question
is, is it realistic? Did we go too far? It's time for us to
answer that question.
And then there are management decisions, and they've been
alluded to already. I'm not a business consultant, don't
pretend to be, but if someone came to my business and said, ``I
got an idea. I'm going to reduce the value of your product. I'm
going to raise its price,'' you'd say to yourself, ``You think
that's a winning combination?'' But that's what we hear about a
future management plan. We're going to reduce or increase the
time for delivery on items in the mail, and we're going to
raise the cost of mail in the process. Those two things just
don't work together. It seems to me we better think hard about
that.
So, let me close by saying, it's an honor to be with you.
The turnout of the delegation tells you how important this
issue is. We want to work with you and the leadership in the
Postal Service to make it continue to be the best in the world.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you so much, Senator Durbin. And I'm
reminded of the point you made about how personal the
connection is between communities and their post office. When
we were coming into this building, one of the gentlemen
greeting us was a mail [inaudible] in this case in those 60
years, three. And the neighborhood has adopted every one of
them. They're sick, they get get-well cards. It's their
birthday, they get--you know. I mean, they're part of the
community. And what other business can really point to that
kind of relationship, so great point. Thank you so much,
Senator. Great to have you here today.
Next, we recognize another former employee of the Postal
Service who's now a Member of Congress, Brenda Lawrence.
Brenda, you with us?
Mrs. Lawrence. Yes, I am. I'm right here.
Mr. Connolly. We're so glad to have you. You got your two
minutes.
Mrs. Lawrence. Thank you. I want to thank you, Chairman
Connolly, for hosting this event and to also Chairwoman
Maloney.
As the only Member of Congress who worked an entire career
in the United States Postal Service, I continue to be alarmed
by efforts taken to undermine the service element of this great
institution. Serving as a letter carrier, serving as a person
who sorted mail, serving as a supervisor, serving on management
leadership, doing audits of service, we took pride in every
single day every piece of mail leaving that building. And as a
supervisor, as a manager, I had uniquely the responsibility and
the pride of providing this service to America. But, as part of
postmaster general's 10 year plan, we are seeing that he wants
to lower the standards of delivery, which will transform who we
are as a Postal Service.
Last month, I led a letter with senior members of the
committee requesting additional information. Why did I need
additional information? Because where does lowering standards
increase the productivity or the budget or the bottom line of
the Postal Service? Where is it that there is a unyielding
reason during COVID and everything else we went through to
lower or dummy down our ability and to strike to me at the
pride of postal workers to get the job done?
We are there because of the Constitution. We are there
because we are a service to the people of the United States. By
undermining the agency's mission to provide prompt and
efficient services, it'll do little but to chip away at the
bedrock of this community, this service. As the American
people, they deserve better. And just like we just heard from
the Senator, the question was made earlier, we should not be
interfering.
I don't know about you, sir, but I have been inundated with
calls and demands for action: Why is my mail late? Where are my
prescription drugs, my checks that I rely on? Small businesses,
think about that, who are now being held hostage to service
standards that make no sense because they are dependent upon
the Postal Service.
So, the question is, if we don't stand up as Members of
Congress who have oversight, who's going to fight for the
people?
I want to thank the chairman for yielding, and I look
forward to this hearing today.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you so much for joining us and thank
you for your leadership, Congresswoman Lawrence. We're always
benefited from your experience in working in the Postal Service
and understanding the nuts and bolts of the operations. Thank
you so much.
The chair now recognizes the distinguished gentleman from
Illinois, Mr. Krishnamoorthi.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. Thank you, Chair Connolly, thank you,
Chairwoman Maloney, and thank you, Danny Davis, Congressman
Davis, for convening us here today. All of you know this, but
the United States Postal Service is the most popular government
institution in America. More than 91 percent of Americans rate
the Postal Service very highly, according to most recent Pew
Polls. That's almost as high as Danny Davis's rating in this
district.
The Postal Service delivers 48 percent of the world's mail.
In my district alone, the Eighth District of Illinois, the
Postal Service employees over 3,000 people. These are
hardworking men and women dedicated to one simple principle,
which is the timely and safe delivery of mail. The USPS is
supposed to be completely reliable for every American, proven
by the fact that the USPS even delivers mail from a sack on a
mule in the Grand Canyon.
I am saddened to see that the USPS has been failing to meet
its service standards. I've had constituents tell my office
numerous stories, including one where it took three weeks for
an envelope to get from Evanston to Oak Brook--I'm sorry, North
Brook. That's only 11 miles. That's ridiculous.
The onset of delayed mail can be traced to Louis DeJoy when
he took over in July 2020. His reduction in service standards,
especially the ones that were instituted on October 1 just a
couple weeks ago have been a plague on the USPS, and we'll be
talking about that today. That's why I introduced the DEJOY
Act, Delivering Envelopes Judiciously On-Time Year-round, to
make sure that we return to the service standards that
Americans deserve. But to borrow a phrase: Neither snow nor
heat nor gloom of night will stop us from saving the post
office. And that's why we're here today.
So, thank you so much, Chairman Connolly, for convening us.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you so much, Congressman
Krishnamoorthi.
And thank you, again, for your wonderful contribution on
the committee.
The chair now recognizes the distinguished gentlelady from
greater Chicago, Robin Kelly.
Ms. Kelly. I want to thank Chairman Connolly for holding
this important hearing and all the witnesses who are here
today.
Thank you, Chairwoman Maloney, and thank you to my
colleague Danny Davis for having this great idea to invite the
committee out.
My office, like everyone's here, has been slammed with post
office casework. I don't need to tell anyone the effects of
slow mail, but I have constituents who are not getting critical
prescription medications on time. I have other constituents
without broadband access who pay their bills by mail being
charged late fees due to the slow mail. For many, the late fees
are causing financial hardship for them and their families. My
district is urban, suburban, and rural, and this has been an
issue for everyone. People depend on the reliability of their
post office to get their medications, pay their bills, send
birthday cards, or letters to loved ones.
Even though they were having problems leading up to the
time of DeJoy under the leadership of Postmaster DeJoy, first-
class mail in my district has gone from an on-time delivery
rate of 90.9 percent in quarter two of 2020 after the pandemic
that shut everything down and before DeJoy was appointed to a
69-percent on-time delivery rate, according to the U.S. Postal
Service. This is unacceptable. Almost one out of every three
pieces of mail is not getting to my constituents on time. And
it's not that the mail is a few days late; some are taking
weeks or even months to get to people. I received a Christmas
card in February.
I've never worked for the post office, but my mom retired
from the post office, and my brother is a postal worker now.
So, this is personal to me also. I hope we can have a
productive hearing today and find solutions so my constituents
can stop worrying about missing their prescriptions and their
bills.
I yield back.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you so much, Congresswoman Kelly, and
thank you for your service on our committee as well.
The chair recognizes the distinguished gentleman from the
great state of Illinois, Mr. Quigley, for his opening
statement.
Mr. Quigley. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, first of all, thank you for agreeing to bring
this subcommittee to Chicago and thank your staff for working
with my office to put this hearing together. There are issues
all across the country, but the subcommittee decided to come to
Chicago, and we're forever grateful.
I also want to thank our witnesses for being here today and
the work that you do on an ongoing basis, but we have work to
do. The problems are numerous. In Chicago, there are about 100
mail routes across the city going undelivered daily. It's been
as high as 150. Mail theft, random post office closures,
delayed mail carrier start times, and slow case work, just to
name a few. Unfortunately, about 75 percent of the first-class
mail in my district is getting delivered on time. These
problems have consequences for Chicagoans who rely upon USPS to
deliver their mail.
Now, I get it. I've been doing public service in one manner
or another since about 1980. The problems have existed on an
ongoing basis, but I do think they've been made worse by the
measures that the postmaster has put in place. The notion of
decreasing standards while increasing prices defies business
logic, and it's really a disservice to the American people. And
I understand that these problems can't be solved by USPS alone.
We have seen remarkably slow progress made by USPS to try to
address them all. It's simply unacceptable. So, that brings us
to today.
I look forward to learning why the problems in Chicago have
been so persistent and what actions will be taken to resolve
them quickly and permanently.
And thank you, again, Mr. Chairman. We appreciate your
being here.
Mr. Connolly. Mr. Quigley, thank you so much. And thank you
to you and your staff, as well as Mr. Davis and his staff, have
really helped us, along with the courthouse staff here in
Chicago. So, thank you so much for making this possible. We
really appreciate it.
The chair now recognizes the distinguished member of the
Illinois delegation, Congressman Bobby Rush, for his opening
statement.
Mr. Rush. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I want to thank Chairwoman Maloney, who was my friend since
we were both elected together in 1993, and I certainly want to
thank my colleague, Congressman Danny Davis, for all the work
that he's done on this issue.
And Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for the opportunity
to waive on this subcommittee for this vital field hearing. We
all know my constituents are celebrating your arrival and
celebrating this hearing.
Mr. Chairman, missing mail, along with delayed and
inconsistent delivering, have consistently plagued my
constituents. This poor service has had real impact and
resulted in missing bills that are overdue, lost medication,
and trouble checking on the vital documents and packages.
As you stated, Mr. Chairman, these issues, while worsened
by the coronavirus, pre-date the onset of the public health
emergency and point to a wider systemic neglect by the Postal
Service. This is why, after hosting a townhall meeting in July
2020 with over 3,500 of my constituents, I've been questioned--
that the U.S. Office of Inspector General ordered four stations
in my district that were the subject of high volume of
complaints to my district.
I'm so glad that this report served as part of the evidence
for today's hearing, and I ask unanimous consent to enter it
into the record. Furthermore----
Mr. Connolly. Without objection, so ordered.
Mr. Rush. Furthermore, Mr. Chairman, due to the rampant
neglect on my constituents and concern and failure to rectify
this situation in a timely manner, I single-handedly call for
the termination of the Chicago Postmaster General Wanda Prater.
I was pleased that the USPS heeded my call for new leadership
here in Chicago and that Ms. Prater was ultimately transferred
to another state.
Mr. Chairman, I look forward to this frank discussion
today, and I'm eager to continue working with all of today's
distinguished witnesses, who are also my friends, to help at
long last raise the standard of Chicago's mail delivery to
where it should be.
Mr. Chairman, thank you very much.
And I yield back.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Rush.
The chair now recognizes the distinguished gentlelady from
the great state of Illinois, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, for
her two-minute opening statement.
Ms. Schakowsky. So, thank you so much, Mr. Chairman, for
convening this hearing.
Thank you, Danny Davis, for helping to make this happen.
Yes, it's true that for years residents of the Ninth
congressional District of Illinois have faced significant mail
delivery delays at times, but over the last year, my district
office has opened thousands, yes, thousands of cases with the
Postal Service for only four Chicago neighborhoods--Uptown,
Rogers Park--I'm going to take this off--Rogers Park, North
Town, and Edgewater. My staff has also worked on many other
cases, including those in Evanston and Skokie and Arlington
Heights, and everything in between.
We must not forget that each one of these cases represents
real people--real people--who rely on the Postal Service to
ensure that they are going to receive their bills, their Social
Security checks, and their lifesaving medicine. Unfortunately,
under the leadership of Postmaster DeJoy, what we have seen is
a beloved agency that has become mired in corruption and
mismanagement.
Earlier this week, just this week, over 200 residents from
my district wrote postcards--this is just an example of the
200--over 200 postcards that were written. Some people said,
one person said: We often go 3 to 5 days without any mail
whatsoever. Some pieces are never delivered at all.
And another person wrote: Why does it take so long to
receive mail these days?
I hope that today's hearing will find the answers to these
questions and, more importantly, the solutions to the problem.
Our residents and our letter carriers deserve better. Thank
you.
And I yield back.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you so much, Jan. Thank you for your
leadership as well.
The chair now recognizes the distinguished gentleman from
Illinois, Mr. Bill Foster, Congressman Bill Foster, who I
believe is on screen. Bill?
Mr. Foster. Yep. Audible and visible here?
Mr. Connolly. Great. You're recognized for your two-minute
opening statement.
Mr. Foster. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm Congressman
Bill Foster. I'm a scientist and businessman, though I'm proud
to represent the 11th congressional District of Illinois, a
district that contains Aurora, Joliet, and Naperville, the
second, third, and fourth largest cities of Illinois.
I want to thank the Committee on Oversight and Reform for
holding this hearing today and especially thank my colleague,
Chairman Connolly, for leading the fight to resolve these mail
delivery and the inadequacies in the Chicagoland area and
around the country.
The Postal Service is critical for many Americans,
including the people that I serve in the 11th District.
Unfortunately, on-time delivery rates have declined
significantly between July and December 2020 to a low of 67
percent at the end of December 2020, and they remain inadequate
today.
This decline has had a very tangible impact, and every
Member of Congress has been hearing about it. These lapses in
service mean late medications, difficulties for small
businesses that rely on the Postal Service, and a level of
inconvenience and uncertainty for our constituents that's
simply unacceptable.
As our economy finally gets up off the couch and gets
moving again after the pandemic, there are going to be sore
muscles and snafus and bottlenecks, we get that, but the postal
delivery service should be a source of strength and certainty
in our economy and our lives and not just an additional source
of uncertainty. So, as we examine the dramatic drops in postal
delivery service standards in today's hearings, I want to make
it clear that Members of Congress need and expect a realistic
plan from the postmaster in advance of the coming peak season
that addresses the issues we're going to be discussing here. We
need to tackle these problems now before the situation becomes
more difficult, and that's why I'm glad we're all here today.
I look forward to hearing from and working with you to
improve delivery times and the overall quality of service from
the U.S. Postal Service. Thank you.
And I yield back.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you. Perfect timing, Mr. Foster. And
thank you for also reminding us, as bad as the problems are
right now, we are coming up in peak season. So, it could get a
lot worse given the volume we're facing. Thank you for
reminding us of that.
The chair now recognizes the distinguished gentleman from
the great state of Illinois, Mr. Brad Schneider, who is also on
screen, for his two-minute opening remarks. Brad?
Mr. Schneider. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman Connolly,
I'm so grateful that you are hosting this hearing on a
critically important issue and doing it in our great city of
Chicago.
I want to also thank our witnesses for speaking on the
current state of the Postal Service and particularly how the
Chicagoland area has been affected by changes in postal
operations, drop in service standards, and mail delays.
As Senator Durbin noted, it doesn't take a business
consultant to know that lowering service value while increasing
service price is not a formula for success.
I'm a huge advocate for the United States Postal Service.
Unlike Congress, the Postal Service is held in very high regard
by all Americans, and every American fairly expects quality,
timely service with rising service standards. Unfortunately,
over the past year, we've experienced the opposite.
Since Louis DeJoy took over as postmaster general in July
2020, the Postal Service has experienced dramatic drops in
delivery service performance, and this hearing today is being
held in Chicago because the circumstances are even more dire in
our community. In my district, Illinois' 10th District, which
is located just north of this hearing facility, we felt the
effects of DeJoy's changes and mail delays even before the data
started rolling in. The drop in service standards has had real
impact on my constituents, and my heart breaks every time I
talk to someone who shares that they aren't getting their
medication to treat a chronic condition on time or that their
bills are arriving sometimes months late leading to late fees,
cessation of services, or lowering of their credit rating, or
the Social Security recipient who says her check hasn't arrived
forcing her delay the payment of her bills and other real
financial stress.
Since 1970, the Postal Service has been a critical,
independent Federal agency that ensures that mail reaches every
address in our Nation.
During the pandemic, all of us experienced just how
essential the Postal Service was and is to our everyday lives
and that is why I've called on DeJoy time and again on behalf
of my constituents and our Nation as a whole to fix the
operational changes that clearly aren't working to address mail
delays, and it's also why I've been and will remain a great
advocate for funding our Postal Service.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And, with that, I yield back.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you so much, Congressman Schneider.
The chair recognizes the distinguished gentleman, who
represents my old stomping grounds when I was in college in
DuPage County, the distinguished gentleman from Illinois, Mr.
Casten, for his opening two-minute remarks.
Mr. Casten. Thank you to Chair Connolly or, as we refer to
him, the pride of the Sixth District for organizing this
hearing and allowing me to participate.
The Postal Service provides an absolutely critical function
of this Nation, especially in this moment with seniors relying
on the Postal Service for Social Security checks, folks for
prescriptions, families right now for the child tax credit
checks that are going out, and, yet, for the last year in the
Sixth District of Illinois, the calls that have come in from my
constituents have had a strong, kind of Mark Anthony vibe. They
have not called to praise the Postal Service.
We've received calls from members asking our office to help
them figure out how to get out from under penalties that they
are being charged for bills that are unpaid but they never
received. We're getting calls from families asking how to get
the economic impact payments that we structured to get them--to
help recover from COVID that they never received but were
counting on for their finances. I got one call from a 64-year-
old woman, who had waited three weeks to get critical
prescription drugs, in a panic. We've gotten a whole lot of
other calls from folks who have not received their medicines at
all. Had one family who reached out because their birth
certificate was lost in the mail as they were renewing their
passport and was wondering how they are going to be able to
identify themselves going over and if somebody else is going to
use their identity.
One call is a fluke. Two is a coincidence. Three is a
pattern, and we've gotten a lot more than three calls. Now, the
service degradations that we've seen just from that sample have
not correlated with the weather. They've not correlated with
periods of increased demand. And, as you point out well, Mr.
Chairman, they seem to be nationwide. This is a problem that's
driven from the top, and I would submit to you that it's been
deliberately imposed by Postmaster Louis DeJoy to weaken and
ultimately privatize the post office. He's more or less said so
about as openly as you can.
The OIG report details how DeJoy's efforts this past year
and a half to close processing facilities, remove sorting
machines, restrict carrier movements have strained our mail
system from the top down and, of course, the October 1 service
standard reduction, which will slow down our mail system even
more at a time when everything else in society is getting
faster. I know that the post office is filled with dedicated,
hardworking individuals who want to do a good job, but when
there's a problem at the top, the buck has to stop at the top.
I commend the letter carriers, the mail handlers for
doubling down in spite of these operational challenges. Through
rain, sleet, and snow, our country relies on the U.S. Postal
Service, and it's imperative we have a working system with a
postmaster general who actually believes in improving the
system, not degrading it, especially in this moment when
reliable, affordable mail is a necessity for millions. Thank
you.
And I yield back.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you, Mr. Casten.
The chair now recognizes the distinguished gentleman from
Illinois, Jesus ``Chuy'' Garcia, Congressman Garcia, for his
two-minute opening remarks.
Mr. Garcia. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for convening this
important meeting, and as my colleagues have noted, the Postal
Service is a lifeline to our constituents. At its best, it is
an equalizing institution that ensures critical packages, like
medications, Social Security checks, and important paperwork,
are delivered to every doorstep in the U.S., but,
unfortunately, in the neighborhoods I represent, people's
experience has been very different from that ideal.
Long before I came to Congress, I heard concerns about mail
service and delivery in my district and across the Chicagoland
area. And, since I became Congressman, I've noticed, I've
continued to hear messages loud and clear that my constituents
are waiting unacceptable periods of time to get their mail. In
some instances, they're not getting mail at all. All of this
was before the selection of Louis DeJoy as postmaster general.
His changes, as demonstrated in USPS OIG reports, made a
situation worse.
As we know from the reports, on-time delivery rates
plummeted and this at the same time as mail delivery became all
the more critical for service that people had previously sought
out in person. Constituent complaints accelerated, like the one
from a small business that shifted away from mail payment after
delivery proved too unreliable or a constituent whose bank
canceled her credit cards after she didn't receive them or an
elderly couple, one of whom is bedridden and dependent on mail
delivery for critical medication.
In all, we receive thousands of constituent complaints,
over 100 which we filed formal complaints with USPS. And look:
I still believe in the power of the post office. It's got the
potential to keep us together and connected even as the
pandemic continues to keep us apart, but in order for it to
fulfill that incredible potential, the mail's got to get
delivered. And I'm committed to working with postal leadership,
union representatives, and congressional colleagues to make
that ideal a reality.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I yield back.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you so much, Congressman Garcia.
The chair now recognizes the distinguished gentlewoman from
the great state of Illinois, Lauren Underwood, for her two-
minute opening remark.
Ms. Underwood. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I'm so delighted to be here today because the drastic drop
in delivery standards that Illinois has seen under Postmaster
General DeJoy's leadership is unacceptable. I know we'll hear a
lot today about how Chicago has been affected, but I also want
you to hear what this has meant for rural and suburban
communities like mine, where we are incredibly reliant on USPS.
Since Mr. DeJoy became postmaster general, postal case work
in my office has quadrupled. Small businesses have been hobbled
by slow and unreliable delivery. Families separated by the
pandemic have been missing opportunities to connect. Holiday
cards were delivered late or not at all, and passports have
taken weeks to arrive after they were mailed. All because of
policies from the previous administration and Postmaster
General DeJoy that are undermining our Postal Service.
Let me be clear: This attack on USPS is an attack on
seniors, veterans, and small businesses across the country.
It's an attack on frontline workers, who have worked harder
than ever during the pandemic, and on economic prosperity for
Black Americans, who comprise almost a quarter--a quarter--of
USPS employees. It's an attack on voting access as more of us
safely and securely cast our ballots by mail.
I see an all-too-familiar pattern in these attacks.
Regrettably, there are those operating in our political system
who want to dismantle and privatize much of the government. A
great way to do that is to degrade our most popular and
impactful government services until we are so understandably
frustrated that we look elsewhere.
Senator Durbin described Postmaster General DeJoy's plan as
designed to sink the Postal Service, not save it. And, sadly, I
think he's right.
That's why today's hearing is so important, and I look
forward to working with my colleagues here to conduct oversight
and pass legislation to protect, strengthen, and modernize the
Postal Service.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you to our witnesses for
joining.
I yield back.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you so much, Congresswoman Underwood,
and unbelievably precise timing. Great job.
And, last but not least, the chair is happy to recognize
the distinguished Congresswoman from the great state of
Illinois, Marie Newman, for her two-minute opening remarks.
Ms. Newman. Good morning and thank you, Chairman.
Good to see everybody and so pleased to be to talk with
everyone. I want to thank our witnesses for being here, and I
also just want to make the statement that so proud of our
postal union workers and all workers throughout the postal
systems. We stand with you, behind you always.
As everyone in the room already knows, the primary function
of the USPS is to deliver mail on time to residents every day
except Sunday. Frankly, Chairman, I am disappointed to say
that, on Chicago's southwest side, that has not been our
reality. In fact, it's been the exact opposite.
I represent Illinois's Third District, which is home to
over 700,000 residents that all rely on mail to receive their
checks, pay their bills, access their medication, and
communicate with loved ones.
Between the months of March and May of this year, my
district was home to 3 of the top 25 worst performing offices
in the country. Chairman, I have been in office for less than a
year, and in that amount of time, our office has received
nearly 500 constituent complaints on postal delays, lost mail,
or other delivery issues. And, in Chicago, there's been an
exceptionally poor job in recruiting and maintaining carriers,
although I believe that it's getting slightly better, which is
only further exacerbated by the pandemic. And we realize there
is a pandemic here to be clear.
It is crucial we work to hire more carriers right away. I
also want to be clear that these service delay issues represent
an economic divide that historically and largely affects our
Black and Brown neighborhoods. Our low-to moderate-income
communities lack access to financial technologies that allow
them to pay for their bills electronically; therefore, they
rely on the Postal Service all that more.
So, Mr. Chairman, when mail doesn't arrive on time, it may
very well stand in the way of my constituents having food to
eat, roof over their heads, and paying their bills. And, as a
former small business owner, I hear from them every day and
have great empathy. I know that our local entrepreneurs rely on
the Postal Service to deliver their products every day. So,
when the mail doesn't arrive on time, it may well mean the
difference between an open or shuttered business.
Let's be clear: This issue comes from the top down at the
United States Postal Service. And today I look forward to
demanding answers from them because, when mail isn't delivered
on time, we fail our small businesses, our most vulnerable
communities, our seniors, our veterans, everyone. And I just
want to make one additional comment about the shuttering of
sorting machines. That is one of the key reasons we're having
trouble recruiting carriers because when you shut down 30
percent of sorting machines in one state, as we have in
Illinois, it really affects all of our workers and also affects
management, to be clear. They've had a really rough time of
that as well.
So, I just want to be clear that that is a problem.
And I yield back. Thank you very much.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you so much.
And let me just say, I don't--I want to thank all my
colleagues for being so disciplined in trying to keep the time
limits. We were able to get through all the opening statements
in one hour.
I also think it's an extraordinary thing that there are 13
members from the state of Illinois alone, plus others of us not
from Illinois, who are participating in today's hearing. That
is--that's a profound statement about the level of interest,
the level of concern, and the commitment of these men and women
who represent Illinois proudly in the U.S. Congress to
improving Postal Service to all of our constituents. So, thank
you all for being here today.
I'd now like to introduce our three witnesses, and thank
you for your patience, but I think it's instructive and
important for you to hear the concerns of Members of Congress.
Our first witness today is Eddie Morgan, Jr., Chicago
Postmaster from the U.S. Postal Service. Then we'll hear from
Melinda Perez, deputy assistant inspector general for Audit,
U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General. And,
finally, we'll hear from Mack Julion, union representative for
the National Association of Letter Carriers.
And, actually, I think more than union representative;
you're a regional--you're the regional head of the letter
carriers here, yes, and national trustee. Thank you.
The witnesses, if you would rise and be unmuted so that we
can swear you in. It is the custom of our committee and
subcommittee to swear in all witnesses.
If you would raise your right hand.
Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to
give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,
so help you God?
Let the record show that all three of our witnesses
answered in the affirmative.
Thank you. You may be seated.
Without objection, your written comments will be entered
fully into the record. We would now ask that you summarize your
testimony in a five-minute time slot.
And first to go is you, Mr. Morgan. Welcome.
STATEMENT OF EDDIE MORGAN, JR., CHICAGO POSTMASTER, U.S. POSTAL
SERVICE
Mr. Morgan. I'm sorry. I see it. All right.
Good morning, Chairman Connolly, members of the
subcommittee, and Illinois' delegation. Thank you for calling
this important hearing to examine service performance in
Chicago.
My name is Eddie Morgan, Jr. And since June, I have served
as acting executive Postmaster of Chicago, where I oversee
service to 1.3 million delivery addresses. I have nearly 24
years of service as a postal employee and served four years in
the United States Air Force.
Several factors have led to the current instability of the
Chicago Post Office work force and service. Street crime,
including frequent assaults, robberies, and two carriers being
shot, has raised understandable fear, leading to deficiencies
in recruiting and retaining work force. We have additionally
faced problems with retention between the time applicants
accept the job and the time they complete the four-day carrier
academy. Pandemic-related leave and other employee availability
issues have further hampered the ability to achieve and
maintain service excellence.
While we have seen an improvement in attendance since the
expiration of the Emergency Federal Employee Leave benefit, we
continue to struggle with commitments from our new hires and
even some career employees who refuse to deliver in certain
zones within the city of Chicago due to violent crime. Though
our level of authorized positions is appropriate to the daily
workload and on some days surpasses the need, daily employee
availability challenges our ability to achieve consistent, on-
time delivery.
Chicago city carrier employee availability--ability--
availability--I'm sorry--began steadily improving from April
through August. Working within our collective bargaining
agreements, we have taken appropriate, progressive
administrative actions for individuals with high unscheduled
absences. We are also in the process of filling 27 vacant
station manager and supervisor positions.
I have also taken the following steps to enhance training
and build the skill sets of local leadership teams:
Establishing daily cadence calls with senior operating
managers, holding supervisor summer school to develop our
leaders who handle the day-to-day oversight of our craft
employees, holding in-person trainings when any new internal
dashboard is launched, and supporting peer-to-peer coaching.
Since my arrival in June, we have hired 243 city carrier
assistants and postal support employees. By the end of the
year, we are projecting to hire 180 additional carrier
assistants and 68 postal support employees.
In September, we adjusted letter carrier start times to
align with mail availability and provide increased and more
reliable service. This change was based on analysis of when
mail was arriving at each unit, and start times were
individually adjusted in accordance with those arrival times.
On average, start times were adjusted by 30 to 45 minutes.
Before the adjustments, carriers were reporting to the office
before the last dispatch arrived for mail processing plants for
delivery. At no fault of their own, they simply had no work to
perform during this waiting period.
I want to stress that a later start time does not equate to
later delivery times. Since implementation, we have seen
carriers returning from their routes at the same time of day
they did previously, while providing more consistent delivery
to our customers.
Other steps I have taken to improve service and customer
experience include hiring a contracted team to improve internal
and external facility maintenance until we are able to fill 17
custodial vacancies, establishing a retail customer experience
recognition program to reinforce national goals and
expectations, mandating that employees wear uniforms to
maintain the brand and reinforce public trust, reestablishing
consumer advisory councils to connect customers with their
local office.
Three councils are currently in place, and we hope to
expand to at least one for each alderman's area. And I have
also mandated contacting customers within two hours of
receiving an inquiry to gather any additional information
needed to resolve their concerns.
While I have only served the city of Chicago for a short
time, please note I am committed to providing high-quality,
reliable service to our residents. We have seen service
performance improvement over the last eight weeks as a result
of the processes we have established, and we will continue to
refine those processes as any new challenges arise.
Thank you, Chairman Connolly and members of the
subcommittee, for the opportunity to address these matters. I
welcome any questions that you or members of the Illinois
delegation have.
Mr. Connolly. Wow. You had 11 more seconds. Good, good job.
Thank you so much. And thank you for joining us today, Mr.
Morgan.
Ms. Perez.
STATEMENT OF MELINDA PEREZ, DEPUTY ASSISTANT INSPECTOR GENERAL
FOR AUDIT, OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL, U.S. POSTAL SERVICE
Ms. Perez. Good morning, Chairman Connolly, Ranking Member
Hice, members of the subcommittee, and the Illinois delegation.
Thank you for----
Mr. Connolly. Excuse me. Is your mic on?
Ms. Perez. Yes, sir.
Mr. Connolly. Can you pull it closer? It's a little hard--
--
Ms. Perez. Can you hear me better now?
Mr. Connolly. Much better. Thank you.
Ms. Perez. OK. Thank you for inviting me here today to
discuss our work related to the Postal Service's operational
changes and service performance.
The mission of the OIG is to ensure the efficiency,
accountability, and integrity of our Nation's Postal Service
through independent oversight under the authority of the
Inspector General Act of 1978. We take our mission very
seriously.
For a long time, Chicago has experienced delays in mail
delivery. Last year, the issues intensified, and Members of
Congress expressed concern about deteriorating mail service. In
response, we visited several Chicago Post Offices to analyze
the extent of the problem to see what was causing the service
failures. During our visits we observed mail and parcels that
had been sitting for up to 19 days without being delivered.
This was driven, in part, by not having enough employees to
fully cover all carrier routes, a challenge that increased for
Chicago, along with the rest of the country, due to the COVID-
19 pandemic.
We also found the full extent of these delays was not
evident in internal postal data systems because they were not
reported properly. Accurate data may have allowed postal
management to more proactively address these issues.
In addition, during an earlier audit, we found delivery
delays were sometimes the result of difficulties that occurred
prior to the mail arriving at the post office. Issues with mail
processing and transportation led to mail being sent to post
offices late or not fully sorted for the carriers, which, in
turn, increased the risk of mail not being delivered on time.
As a result of our observations and findings, we made
several recommendations to help the Postal Service address
these issues. To help postal stakeholders more easily find
service information, we recently deployed a new service
performance website that shows how Chicago and the rest of the
country performed over time. Service scores for Chicago were
generally worse than the national average, and most of the
first-class mail scores in Chicago this year have been lower
than they were in previous years.
Looking at the recent data reported for April through June
2020, Chicago had the second worst service score of all the
postal districts for two-day letter mail. Specifically, the
Postal Service only delivered around 82 percent of this mail on
time, compared to the national average of just over 90 percent.
However, this 82 percent score marks an improvement over the
preceding quarter. And this recent positive trend in service
was seen across almost all of Chicago's service scores. We will
continue to monitor this trend as the Postal Service releases
new service performance information.
Though things seem to be improving, we recognize the
importance of timely mail delivery across the country and have
a body of work focused on this topic. For example, in the fall
of 2020, we issued reports on how the Postal Service's
implementation of operational changes across the country
impacted service. We found that the operational changes, on top
of employee absences due to COVID, negatively impacted the
quality and timeliness of mail delivery.
More recently, we looked at nationwide service performance
and identified the most common root causes behind service
failures. These included insufficient capacity to handle the
increase in parcels, sending parcels to the wrong facility,
staffing shortages, and mail not being fully sorted when it
arrived at the post office.
The Postal Service has plans to address these concerns.
However, implementing multiple initiatives to correct these
issues will be challenging, especially now as the Postal
Service is entering the holiday peak season.
Timely mail delivery will continue to be a focus of our
work. This work is vital to ensuring the American public has an
efficient Postal Service. We will soon release a report on the
Postal Service's readiness for the upcoming holiday season.
Another project will assess how the Postal Service manages its
delivery operations, with a focus on undelivered routes. In a
third project, we will be reviewing the 10 lowest-performing
mail processing plants, which include two in greater Chicago.
We will look at multiple data sources to determine what is
causing their poor performance and what solutions should be
considered.
We understand that getting mail on time is critical to
everyone. We look forward to continuing to work with you to
evaluate service concerns in Chicago, as well as the rest of
the country.
Thank you for the opportunity to discuss our work. I am
happy to answer your questions.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you so much, Ms. Perez. And thank you;
you had 19 seconds more to go.
And we're going to be very interested in those 10 you're
going to be looking at. And, hopefully, you'll stay in close
touch with us on the subcommittee, given our interest and this
level of interest all around the country.
It now gives me great pleasure to recognize Mr. Julion for
his five-minute opening remarks.
STATEMENT OF MACK JULION, UNION REPRESENTATIVE, NATIONAL
ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS
Mr. Julion. Thank you.
Good afternoon, Chairman Connolly, Ranking Member Jody
Hice, and to all the other members of the Subcommittee on
Government Operations, the Illinois delegation, and, of course,
Senator Durbin. I thank you for the opportunity to be here
today on behalf of the 4,500 members of the National
Association of Letter Carriers, local Branch No. 11 located in
Chicago.
Like other craft employees of the Chicago Post Office--mail
handlers, clerks, and custodians--ours is a very proud,
hardworking, and dedicated work force. We believe in the
mission of which we were sworn, and that is to move and deliver
the mail of the United States Postal Service. Unfortunately,
the reason we are here today is to discuss the crisis that has
befallen the Chicago Post Office, a crisis that was not borne
of the recent pandemic or the questionable policies of the
current postmaster general but, rather, was years in the making
and only exacerbated by COVID-19.
In order to get a clearer picture of the current state of
the Chicago Post Office, I will frame my testimony with a
passage from title 39 of the U.S. Code: Postal Policy.
A. The United States Postal Service shall be operated as a
basic and fundamental service provided to the people by the
Government of the United States, authorized by the
Constitution, created by act of Congress, and supported by the
people.
It goes on to say: It shall provide prompt, reliable, and
efficient services to patrons in all areas and shall render
Postal Service to all communities.
B. The Postal Service shall provide a maximum degree of
effective and regular postal services to rural areas,
communities, and small towns where post offices are not self-
sustaining.
The Chicago Post Office today resembles nothing of the
aforementioned Postal Policy. Yet it is consistent with the
report of the Office of Inspector General dated May 13, 2019,
on the Graceland Annex. The audit was done at the request of
Congressman Mike Quigley. This report identified late-arriving
and unsorted mail, falsified scans to stop the clock on
packages, the underreporting of delayed mail, the mismanagement
or insufficient supervision of employees' work hours, all of
which can be attributed to the staffing issues noted in this
report.
Like other offices in Chicago, this postal unit lacks the
number of employees needed to provide prompt, reliable, and
efficient services to postal patrons. Of course, this was pre-
pandemic.
Fast-forward to February 1 of this year and the OIG
conducts another audit at the request of Congressman Bobby
Rush. This time it was four units on the South Side of Chicago.
The results are eerily similar: delayed mail, improper
scanning, inaccurate reporting of mail conditions, and below-
par employee availability directly related to staffing.
These stations are not anomalies, but rather, the status
quo of the Chicago Post Office. As recent as August of this
year, an average of 100 to 200 full and/or partial routes were
not getting delivered in Chicago daily. Each route accounts for
up to 1,000 delivery points. These reports of delayed mail are
based on the firsthand account of carriers on the workroom
floor, because as noted by the OIG, postal management data is
consistently unreliable.
They no longer manage operations to provide the maximum
degree of effective and regular mail service. They are managing
to provide misleading reports to appease upper postal
management. These same reports are then given to the
congressional offices seeking answers to constant complaints by
your constituents. We know their complaints because we are
postal customers too.
The understaffing and mismanagement of the Chicago Post
Office have taken a toll on our dedicated work force, and
letter carriers are tired. We are tired and we are embarrassed.
We are tired from working multiple assignments late into the
night, because despite the OIG reports, local management has
failed to properly staff the operations for which it has been
entrusted. We are tired of monitoring our check stubs due to
the rampant timecard fraud by Chicago postal supervisors. We
are tired of the disrespect on the workroom floor that is shown
to postal workers who have worked this past year through a
deadly pandemic, yet there is total disregard for our personal
safety.
Letter carriers and clerks are the face of this
organization, and we are embarrassed by what the Postal Service
has become. Our members come to work every day in a uniform
that represents a tainted product because the Chicago Post
Office is in utter disarray.
Although recent reports provided to congressional offices
by this union indicate improvement in some delivery areas, we
are of the belief that this is not sustainable. From the flawed
onboarding process, training, and retention of new hires to the
erratic and unpredictable daily operations, the Chicago Post
Office is dysfunctional at best. Although the OIG reports
provided detailed recommendations to improve service, nothing
changed because there is no real accountability. We hope that
this hearing today will move us toward that accountability and
improve the service to our customers.
Thank you, and I am prepared to answer any questions that
you have for us.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you so much, Mr. Julion.
We're now going to go into direct questioning by members.
I'm going to ask all of my colleagues to follow the same
discipline you've shown in opening statements. Everyone gets
five minutes. I'm going to have to be fairly strict because we
have 17 members who are going to be exercising their right to
ask questions. So, we're going to have to move along smartly,
and I would ask our witnesses to try to be concise in their
answers as well.
The chair now calls on the distinguished chairwoman of the
full committee, Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, for her five
minutes of questioning.
Chairwoman Maloney.
Mrs. Maloney. Thank you so much, Chairman Connolly and
Danny Davis, for calling for it, and all my colleagues from
Illinois. What an incredible show of support and caring for the
post office.
I want to thank all of our witnesses for being here today.
We appreciate all that you do for the Postal Service and the
American people.
As we have already heard this morning, the Postal Service
has not been living up to its responsibilities to deliver mail
on time, and, for many, this is not merely an inconvenience but
a life-threatening concern when medications are delivered late
or lost entirely.
It is obvious that mail is not being delivered on time,
yet, in many cases, it is unclear how long mail is taking to be
delivered in different locations. That is why the Postal
Service Reform Act includes a provision to require the Postal
Service to provide weekly updates on service performance on a
public-facing website.
Mr. Morgan, would increased transparency about where mail
is not being delivered on time help you better target areas
that need additional attention and resources so that we could
improve mail delivery?
Mr. Morgan.
Mr. Morgan. Thank you for the question, Representative. I
do have increased transparency. We have new dashboards, and
those dashboards provide life----
Mr. Connolly. Mr. Morgan, can I interrupt one second? Would
you just bring that closer so we can hear you?
Mr. Morgan. Sure. Can you hear me now?
Mr. Connolly. Yes. Great, great.
Mr. Morgan. Awesome.
Yes, ma'am, we do have reports currently that helps us stay
transparent. Our dashboards are live, meaning our letter
carriers carry a scanner with them that feeds back live
information that is critical information that helps us
understand when we could possibly have a delay. We have those
reports, coupled with office visits and audits to help us.
Mrs. Maloney. So, when you see that there are delays, do
you assign more personnel? How do you address the delays?
Mr. Morgan. When we learn of a delay, we shift our flexible
work force. So, with--from the surrounding offices in the city,
we move the available work force to fill the gap.
Mrs. Maloney. Thank you.
I also believe more oversight from the Postal Regulatory
Commission is needed over the Postal Service and pricing
changes the Postal Service is implementing. I plan to introduce
a bill that would strengthen the Commission's oversight of the
Postal Service. In particular, if a Postal Service tried to
make a change without fully testing it, as DeJoy did, the
Commission would be able to request additional information
before issuing an advisory opinion.
The bill would also require a two-thirds vote of the Postal
Service Board of Governors to implement a change if the
Commission determines it did not have enough testing to prove
that it will benefit the American public.
Mr. Julion, would increased checks on the Postal Service be
helpful to ensure the Postal Services only makes changes to
their prices and services after they have gathered sufficient
evidence that it's in the best interest of the American people?
Mr. Julion.
Mr. Julion. Yes, thank you. I believe increased oversight
at every level of the Postal Service can only help improve
performance.
Looking specifically at the Chicago Post Office, and the
OIG reported, that the problem that they had was that a lot of
the information, the transparency that Mr. Morgan just referred
to, was indeed absent. In fact, their ability to accurately
document mail that's not being delivered is a big problem in
the Chicago Post Office.
Mrs. Maloney. OK. And, Mr. Julion, what resources and
support do you and your letter carriers need to get the job
done on time?
Mr. Julion. Right now, we blatantly need more carriers out
there on the street. Using the postmaster's own metric in a
recent correspondence where he stated that they were fully
staffed to the extent of having 4,000 letter carriers in the
Chicago Post Office, our records indicate the number is more
like 3,500. So, their ability to move resources as needed is
limited. And we know that there are many offices. In fact, I
provide reports daily or at least weekly to the Chicago
delegation on mail that is not being delivered. And as recent
as yesterday, we still see close to 100 full or partial routes
not being delivered, but it's also not documented by postal
management.
Mrs. Maloney. OK. So, the American people deserve better
from the Postal Service. I look forward to working with you to
ensure that we turn this situation around and get mail
delivered on time.
My time is expired, and I yield back.
Thank you. Thank to you all of the participants.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you, Chairwoman Maloney.
Mrs. Maloney. Thank you.
Mr. Connolly. And we look forward to working with you on
this latest bill with respect to the PRC.
Our acting ranking member, Mr. Keller, is recognized for
his five minutes of questioning.
Mr. Keller.
Mr. Keller. Thank you, Representative Connolly.
I appreciate the opportunity to be here, and I just have a
couple of questions.
Mr. Morgan, first, thank you for your service. And I say
that to all our postal employees. I really appreciate the work
that you do on behalf of the American people.
Mr. Morgan, you've been 24 years with the Postal Service,
and you've, as I see your biography and what I'm looking at,
you've been in Kansas City. You've been in the Arizona
district. So, you've been to many, many areas in the Postal
Service. And then you mentioned about things that you were
doing here in Chicago.
Some of the things you're implementing here, have you done
that throughout your career in the Postal Service when you were
at different locations, working on customer service?
Mr. Morgan. Yes, sir, I have.
Mr. Keller. So, you--does the Postal Service do
benchmarking to see which locations have higher rates of
customer satisfaction and implement those policies across the
board where other post offices might not be reaching that level
of customer service?
Mr. Morgan. Yes. We have benchmarks, we have reports, and
we do know where we have concerns and issues. And we do utilize
the processes that are working around the country, and we share
that information to provide better service and world-class
service to the American public.
Mr. Keller. Another question, because you mentioned in your
testimony, that you had employees that came in and the mail
hadn't arrived yet, so they were--and no fault of their own.
I'm not faulting them. But then you adjusted some of those
times. Had you done that previously in your experience working
at other locations, made some of those adjustments?
Mr. Morgan. Yes, sir, I have.
Mr. Keller. Over the 24 years?
Mr. Morgan. Yes, sir.
Mr. Keller. OK. So, the things that we're looking at to
deal with customer service don't lead back to Postmaster DeJoy;
it leads back to a bigger issue where these things aren't being
implemented across the board, because you just got to Chicago,
being here 24 years and having done some of these same things.
It seems like we really need to have a clear path forward in
how we address these issues, because, as you mentioned, you
came in earlier this year and implemented these things that
might have been done at other locations in some cases years in
advance?
Mr. Morgan. What I would say, sir, is that I can't speak
for what happens on the national level. I came here. I was
asked to come to Chicago to help improve service. Upon my
arrival, I analyzed what was going on. You are correct, I have
24 years of service, and I enjoy my work. I love providing
service to the American people. There was one glaring issue
that I--that stood out amongst all of the data, and it was our
employee availability.
And so when you talk about our start times, let's speak
about that, our start times was misaligned. The mail arrives at
a set time. And if we're not starting at that right time, we're
wasting work hours. By adjusting the work hours to the workload
or the work need, we gain more hours.
Every letter carrier, every postal employee has a maximum
of 12 hours that they can work. So, I'll give an example. If we
start at seven o'clock, the mail arrives at nine o'clock, and
the carriers are on the clock at seven, we've lost two hours
where we've lost the ability to deliver mail. By adjusting the
start time, improved our delivery.
Mr. Keller. If I could ask a question. So, that start time
that you're talking about, how many years had they been
starting at the same time with the mail arriving later? I mean,
is that something that just changed recently, or has that been
going on for a period of time? How long before you arrived had
that been going on?
Mr. Morgan. Sir, I can't answer about what they've done in
the past. I just know this is what, when I came in, after
analyzing the data, this is what I learned. And then that's
what we moved to start to address.
Mr. Keller. And did you do similar things like that at
other locations over your career with the post office?
Mr. Morgan. Yes, I have.
Mr. Keller. So, because I've heard a lot of people talk
about how the Postal Service's performance metrics are a result
of what Postmaster DeJoy has done, and that clearly is not the
case if for 24 years you've had to come in to places and
improve the customer service. It certainly, to me, leads to a
bigger issue of the Postal Service implementing the best
practices at all locations to ensure that there's on-time
service.
I mean, so looking at this, I would say that you're
adjusting the start times. The Postmaster--does the Postmaster
tell the different mail facilities, whether it's in Chicago or
Detroit, what time they have to start their employee staff or
control that, or is that up to the person at each location?
Mr. Morgan. Are you asking if Mr. DeJoy instructed me to
change the start times? Is that what you're saying? Or does he
instruct----
Mr. Keller. What I'm saying is, does he set the start
times? Does he set the start times or does he allow the
managers at each area to manage the postal--I mean, I guess the
point I'm making--and I'll just be blunt with it. The point I'm
making is these problems existed before Postmaster DeJoy came
in. And like with any big organization, it takes time to get
things going in the right direction. And you're doing that, and
I compliment you for that. But wouldn't that be an accurate
statement that a lot of these problems existed----
Mr. Connolly. The gentleman's time has expired, but Mr.
Morgan may answer.
Mr. Morgan. What I can say is I can't--again, I can't speak
of nationally. But locally, I can tell that I've been a
Postmaster here in Chicago, Kansas City. I've been Arizona,
Michigan. And I set the start times according to the data
everywhere. No one gives me that direct instruction. That's in
my purview or my authority to set those times, and that's what
I did.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you, Mr. Morgan. And thank you, Mr.
Keller.
Mr. Keller. I just want to followup with that because it's
an important thing to show----
Mr. Connolly. Mr. Keller--Mr. Keller----
Mr. Keller. No, Mr. Connolly, everybody's trying to blame
the Postmaster.
Mr. Connolly. Mr. Keller, I get----
Mr. Keller. It's not the result of his actions per se.
Mr. Connolly. We get your point, and your time has expired.
Mr. Keller. It's many more things.
Mr. Connolly. Mr. Keller, your time has expired.
Mr. Julion----
Mr. Keller. That's because people don't want to hear it.
Mr. Connolly. No, we heard it loud and clear. In fact,
maybe you could listen for a minute.
Mr. Julion, Mr. Keller's trying to make the point that all
of this problem began long before Mr. DeJoy, and he has
virtually nothing to do with it. In fact, he's solving
problems.
Now, I--before I call on Mr. Davis for his five minutes, I
got to say, maybe I'm suffering amnesia. Let's take overtime.
We're in a pandemic, and a lot of members got sick. Some,
sadly, died. That meant we had to do something, either hire
more people or allow more overtime so the job got done. Is that
correct?
Mr. Julion. That is correct.
Mr. Connolly. And who sets overtime policy?
Mr. Julion. Well, the overtime policy is set by our
collective bargaining agreement.
Mr. Connolly. Yes, but did Mr. DeJoy, when he became
postmaster general, actually halt overtime when he took over in
July?
Mr. Julion. I believe that there were some directions given
to postal management, but we----
Mr. Connolly. By the postmaster general, which had a direct
impact on quality of service.
And, second, again, maybe I've got amnesia. Weren't there,
in fact, opinions that were issued by Federal judges to roll
back Mr. DeJoy's so-called reforms because they were injurious
to Postal Service, and they cited that it was directly
political, that it was aimed at affecting an election that was
pending in November 2020? Is that not the case?
Mr. Julion. There was some judges' decisions on that.
Mr. Connolly. Ah, yes. I just wanted to make sure for the
record I got that right. Thank you.
Mr. Davis is recognized for his five minutes.
Mr. Davis. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank
you again for bringing this hearing to Chicago. I thank all of
the witnesses for your testimony.
Mr. Julion, let me ask you. You mentioned that poor
staffing was a key reason for the longstanding--longstanding
meaning long period of time--degradation of service in Chicago.
I understand that service hired 243 city carrier assistants and
other support employees to address the shortage. What was the
letter carriers' position relative to that action?
Mr. Julion. Well, basically, we felt, and we still feel--
basically, our position has been that the staffing has been
inadequate prior to the pandemic, during the pandemic, and even
now. By their own admission in the most recent meeting we had
with them, they stated that they were at least 500 carriers
short--or it was their objective to hire 500 additional
carriers in the upcoming months.
Mr. Davis. Have they given any reasons why they have not
been able to hire?
Mr. Julion. I don't know if it's just the inability, the
lack of people ready in the work force. But what we are seeing
is a poor onboarding process that have people who have been
told that they were being hired by the post office not being
brought on. The training is wholly inactive--inaccurate and
unacceptable. We're seeing those who are not properly trained
put out on the streets before their time. And because of that,
they're having a problem with the retention.
Mr. Davis. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Ms. Perez, in your testimony, you highlight operational
changes made across the country, as well as COVID, as causes
for absences and for some work force participation. And I've
heard this morning that maybe paid family leave might also be.
And as a hard-nosed, staunch supporter of paid family leave,
could you share what it really came up with as the causes for
absence, that employees were not coming to work?
Ms. Perez. As far as the employee absences, as noted, the
low employee availability hit Chicago particularly hard. With
regards to the post office that we have looked at, the four
post offices here in the Chicago area, the--what they did is
then they prioritized the delivery of the mail and with the
employees that they did have available. And so the, you know,
fundamental procedures that the Postal Service has, the--they
didn't always have the time to, you know, address, for example,
scanning of packages or, you know, reporting the delayed mail.
So, you know, as far as, again, the employee availability,
I would say that it is as a result of the pandemic, the leave
that was offered to the employees through the different acts
that were passed.
Mr. Davis. And they were having problems before there was a
Federal paid family leave program?
Ms. Perez. Yes, sir. Chicago, as we noted, has been one of
the, I would say, lowest-performing locations across the
country for quite sometime. And, again, we do have ongoing
work, not only looking at, you know, delivery issues, but as I
mentioned in my opening statement, looking at some of the
lower-performing processing facilities to determine whether or
not there's additional challenges upstream of the delivery
units that we can hopefully identify and provide
recommendations that the Postal Service can address.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you very much.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
Mr. Connolly. I thank the gentleman.
The distinguished Congresswoman from Michigan, Ms.
Lawrence, is recognized for her five minutes of questioning.
Ms. Lawrence.
Mrs. Lawrence. Thank you so much.
Mr. Morgan, I want to just emphasize in your statement why
the need for leadership from the top is needed. You can't
cherry-pick across the country with particular leadership and
every manager going in, setting their own agenda. And one of
the things that we hear is that this plan is supposed to lower
the standards. And I hear your passionate commitment to
improving the standards, but we have a postmaster general who
on the record wants to lower the delivery standards, and we're
hearing the outcry from the community.
I want to ask Ms. Perez. You are responsible to look at and
make recommendations for the Postal Service, for their
accountability and their overall effectiveness. Can--what can
the inspector general do in providing oversight or
accountability for this 10-year plan?
And I wanted to add something to that. When the Postal
Service does not adhere to the recommendations of the IG,
what--what happens then? So if you, as you have, outlined all
these issues--and Michigan has been one that has been subject
to audits and recommendations are being made, but I don't see
them being followed by this current postmaster general. What is
the proper oversight to ensure that not--so we don't have to
hire 100 Morgans to go around and try to figure it out on their
own and set standards and change deliveries processes and start
times, which every--that should be a national standard.
So, what--where is your power? And what do we need to do to
ensure that we're living up to what the expectation of the
Postal Service is?
Ms. Perez. Sure. To answer your first question with regards
to the oversight of the 10-year plan, Delivering for America,
we have identified several audits that we will be soon
launching or have recently launched that will look at different
initiatives that the Postal Service has identified, and we'll
be providing robust oversight and watching those initiatives
closely.
One particular audit that we recently announced is looking
at the aggregate of the plan with regards to the underlying
assumptions in the 10-year plan, as well as how the Postal
Service will implement and measure performance.
To answer your second question with regards to when we make
recommendations, we have a robust process with regards to the
Postal Service being required to provide us with support and
evidence with regards to the measures that they've taken to
implement the recommendations, and we do not close
recommendations until we're satisfied that the intent of the
recommendations have been implemented.
Mrs. Lawrence. Do you report to Congress when your
recommendations are not followed or they're--you see in the
reports that they're not--they're not being--implementing the
change that you're recommending?
Ms. Perez. Yes, ma'am. We do through our semiannual report
to Congress, we do call attention to the recommendations that
have not been implemented.
Mrs. Lawrence. So, again, I wish I had someone here from
the Board of Governors or from the leadership of the Postal
Service. But if we implement this 10-year plan, in lowering the
standards, all these issues that were brought up by the
National Association of Letter Carriers, by Mr. Morgan, who's a
Postmaster, how is that going to improve the delivery? It
doesn't improve it. That's what's so staggering about that. The
plan does not improve the service that all of us as Members of
Congress are hearing from the public.
So, you're saying that if you're supposed to get a four-
year degree and you refuse to get it, let's reduce it down to
two years, and then you'll be eligible for a four-year degree.
It is mind-boggling to me that the leadership----
Mr. Connolly. And will charge you more for it.
Mrs. Lawrence [continuing]. Of this organization is
continuing to lower the standards.
I thank you, and I yield back.
Mr. Connolly. And, Ms. Lawrence, forgive me for
interrupting, but I was just adding to your point about
lowering that standard from a four-year degree to a two-year
degree and will charge you more for it.
Mrs. Lawrence. Exactly. In addition to that.
I'm sorry. The dots, they're just not connecting.
Mr. Connolly. Yes. Thank you so much.
The distinguished Congresswoman from the great state of
Illinois, Robin Kelly, is recognized for her five minutes of
questioning.
Ms. Kelly. Thank you again, Chairman Connolly, for holding
this hearing. And thank you to all the witnesses for taking the
time to be here today.
Postmaster Morgan, as I mentioned in my opening remarks,
on-time delivery for my district is down almost 20 percent
since Postmaster DeJoy took over USPS. We have reports of mail
being marked as delivered when they were not and mail taking
months to deliver, and just different things you've heard
today. And I understand you have not been overseeing the
Chicago Post Office for all of this time, but what do you
attribute to the delivery being down 20 percent? And I know you
said you put in changes. And how long do you think it'll take
to improve the mail delivery?
And let me just get my other question to you. And what can
we do? What more can we do to help you and actually other
postmasters around the country implement the OIG's
recommendations? So, what help can we give you?
Mr. Morgan. First of all, thank you for the question. When
you ask, I want to make sure I understand it. Basically why,
why are there delays in your region?
Ms. Kelly. Uh-huh.
Mr. Morgan. Part of my analysis, I wanted to know that
answer as well. Why? And so you look at--I'll use an example.
If there is 40 assignments in a building and I have 60
employees scheduled there, I look at that, and I believe that I
should--I'm properly staffed and should be able to carry out
the mission. What I learned was I have the staffing on record.
I have the staffing. So, if that building has 40 carriers, I
have 60. So, to say that I have a staffing problem would mean
that I only have 20. That's not the case. I have the employees
on the rolls. We have an attendance problem. So, that is where
my focus is, is addressing those unscheduled absences.
What I--what I would like Congress to do is to assist us,
you know, continue to assist us with the--your networks, with
our job fairs, our hiring, and also supporting a Delivering for
America plan.
Ms. Kelly. So, it sounds like you attribute it to not
really having the staff that supposedly you are supposed to
have and, also, there is an attendance problem with the staff
you do have.
Mr. Morgan. The staff--I don't say that we have a staffing
problem.
Ms. Kelly. Oh, you don't. OK.
Mr. Morgan. I don't. We do not have a staffing problem.
Ms. Kelly. It's the attendance.
Mr. Morgan. We have an attendance problem. And, therefore,
it's hard to deliver the mail when those that I have already
hired, trained, and expect to come to work do not.
Ms. Kelly. OK. Thank you.
I do want to shift to how labor shortage or--well, I'll get
Mr. Julion's take on it--is affecting the post office.
Obviously, we have seen the nationwide labor shortage and have
been cited as the reason for slower mail delivery as postal
staff is being stretched thin. And we do have job fairs and we
did have the post office there.
Mr. Julion, as the union rep for the National Association
of Letter Carriers, can you discuss how this has impacted
letter carriers and post office? And what is your comment about
the attendance issue?
Mr. Julion. Well, let me just say, like Postmaster Morgan
here, I've been a letter carrier for 24 years myself. And when
I started as a letter carrier, there was a sense of urgency in
getting the mail delivered. We delivered everything everywhere
every day. As one manager told me, we do not warehouse mail, we
deliver mail. That's not the same mindset in the post office
right now.
The rules of our collective bargaining agreement in the
workplace has not changed in 24 years. If people don't come to
work, you discipline them. You get more carriers. That is a
reality that's not happening in the Chicago Post Office. He may
be correct that their rolls reflect that they have enough
carriers. But as the OIG pointed out, they don't keep up with
their rolls. They have people on the rolls who no longer work
for the Postal Service. They've been firing people recently who
have already quit the post office, in an effort to clean up
their rolls. There's a definite staffing issue in Chicago.
And the most important metric we have to look at is not how
much time we're saving in the office but whether we're getting
the mail delivered. That is our objective, delivering the mail.
That's not the objective of the current Chicago Post Office,
not how much time we're saving in the office but whether the
customers are getting their mail. And you know what your
constituents are saying. They're not lying. They're not getting
their mail.
Ms. Kelly. And what would you say about the morale of
people that work in the post office?
Mr. Julion. The morale right now I would have to say is
pretty much at an all-time low, and it's directly related to
the start time. You have carriers doing everything they can
with a shortened work--short work staff who have worked through
a pandemic, who are trying desperately to get the mail
delivered. And now you've compressed their hours of operation
by shortening their day. Yes, we have 12 hours to deliver the
mail, but if you don't have enough carriers to get it done, it
won't get done.
It's not so much that the mail is arriving late. It is the
process--it is getting--not getting the mail to the station on
time. And they're managing to the problem as opposed to fixing
the problem in terms of getting the mail to the station
earlier. Then we can keep our same starting time and provide
efficient service.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you.
Ms. Kelly. My time's up. Thank you.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you very much, Ms. Kelly.
And if I might followup on a point you made, did I
understand you to say, Mr. Julion, that the OIG found that one
of the attendance problems is that we're still showing here in
Chicago people holding jobs who, in fact, are no longer holding
those jobs?
Mr. Julion. I believe that was in the initial report that I
cited.
Mr. Connolly. Is that correct, Ms. Perez?
Ms. Perez. Yes, it is. Yes, sir.
Mr. Connolly. Can somebody help with this mic?
Is that correct?
Ms. Perez. Yes, sir. Oh, there we go.
It is correct. We did find that in our February 2021 report
that employees that were not no longer with the Postal Service
and not showing up to work were not being removed from the
rolls. However, as I mentioned earlier, when we closed
recommendations, we're provided evidence from the Postal
Service with regards to actions taken. So, as of March 2021, we
did receive some evidence that they had removed some employees
from the rolls. But we haven't done additional work in that
regard since then.
Mr. Connolly. Mr. Morgan, do you want to comment on that?
Because this is something you inherited presumably. That seems
like a fairly simple problem to fix. You said it's not a
staffing problem, it's an attendance problem. Well, if I'm a
staff member who's left or quit, presumably you're right. My
attendance is not perfect because I'm no longer working there.
Have we fixed that problem?
Mr. Morgan. That is being addressed. You are----
Mr. Connolly. Being addressed.
Mr. Morgan. That is being addressed, correct. I have----
Mr. Connolly. That's a historical present tense.
Mr. Morgan. OK. So, let me explain. What I inherited is--
I'll use an example of 35--let's call it 3,700 carriers. We
have an attrition rate. So, those that worked with us and
resigned, unlike--we have a collective bargaining agreement, so
we have to take them off the rolls in a particular way. That
being said, those numbers are minute, very minimal. The staff
that we have, as we're improving, since my arrival, we're up
about just about 13 percent if you go up. And those employees
are coming back. So, those aren't employees that were on the
rolls and they quit. Those were employees that had attendance
issues that we are addressing, and they are now back to work
and is reflective in the service----
Mr. Connolly. Which is a different issue.
Mr. Morgan. That's--that's--no, that's addressing the
staffing.
Mr. Connolly. No, I mean, that's not people who left and--
--
Mr. Morgan. Correct. Correct.
Mr. Connolly. Yes.
Mr. Morgan. Those who are on the roll but are not coming to
work.
Mr. Connolly. Great. OK. Thank you.
The distinguished vice chair of the Government Operations
Subcommittee, the Congresswoman from California, Katie Porter,
is recognized for her five minutes of questioning.
Ms. Porter.
Ms. Porter. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and thank you
for convening this important hearing.
Ms. Perez, your office, the Office of the Inspector
General, released an audit of the Postal Service in September
of this year. And, basically, they graded the U.S. Postal
Service on its ability to deliver mail on time. And the audit
found that by the spring of 2020, mail delivery was right
around 92 percent. That is, about 92 percent of the mail got
there within the standard of on time. That dropped to 80
percent by the fall of 2020, and by January 2021, was hovering
at around 61 percent.
I realize this has gone up somewhat since then, but I
wanted to ask you: When did Mr. DeJoy take over as Postmaster?
Do you know?
Ms. Perez. The summer of 2020.
Ms. Porter. The summer of 2020, so June 2020. And what
happened after he took over? Did the rate of on-time mail
delivery go up or down?
Ms. Perez. Went down.
Ms. Porter. And I'm a professor, and I used to grade--do a
lot of grading. And 92 percent is considered widely, like, an A
minus. A-B is considered hanging on, hanging on to the lowest
possible B. Sixty percent is, at best, a D minus.
The Postal Service delivers 48 percent of the world's mail.
It is an institution. It is a civic treasure. And we let it get
all the way--what we found is we let it get all the way to that
D-minus level. How, in your opinion, did this happen?
Ms. Perez. So, yes, last summer when the Postmaster
arrived, he had implemented several measures and operational
changes, along with 57 additional initiatives that were
implemented by the postal executives. And it was in order to
improve service, as well as ensure financial stability. And as
we all know, those initiatives were rolled back a few months
after that and prior to the 2020 general election.
But one of the things we had found with regards to the
rollout of those operational changes, as well as the rollback,
was that there was inconsistent communication amongst the
Postal Service employees. So, it, you know, it led to having,
you know, issues and challenges with regards to consistent
implementation of those initiatives across the board and across
the country.
Ms. Porter. So, to summarize, after Postmaster DeJoy took
over, he began to make changes. And what followed from those
changes was this precipitous decline. And what we ended up with
was postal delivery that was borderline failing, because we had
a Postmaster who, in my opinion--I'm not saying you said this--
but, in my opinion, was failing and continues to fail today.
I wanted to ask you about something else that you--in your
testimony, which is your office talked about employee
availability. Why weren't postal facilities prepared to manage
their workload when workers went on paid leave?
Ms. Perez. That--that's a good question. I respect that
question. As far as, you know, why wasn't the Postal Service
prepared for it, I think that would be better asked of the
Postal Service.
When we do go out to different facilities or delivery
units, we do analyze the postal data to determine what employee
availability is like as far as percentages of employees that
are available to conduct their jobs and process and transport
and deliver the mail. But it is definitely one of the causes as
things had exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic as far as
the hindering the Postal Service's ability to deliver the mail
on time.
Ms. Porter. I mean, it seems to me that postal workers are
going to have--they're going to get sick, they're going to have
family members who get sick, they're going to have children,
they're going to have medical issues, and that we ought to be
planning for this paid leave.
One of the recommendations you made is to increase employee
engagement, try to retain these workers. And I think that paid
leave is one of the tools we have to maintain people's
connection to their workplace as they go through these
transitions.
Mr. Morgan, I just wanted to turn to you for one second.
This is a map of service delivery standards based on mailing
things from my area, the Santa Ana area. I am hard-pressed to
understand why it is almost faster for me to walk my mail
halfway across the country than it is to deliver it through the
Postal Service.
Mr. Connolly. The gentlelady's time has expired, but Mr.
Morgan may respond to the question.
Mr. Morgan. I am not aware of the Congresswoman's area, so
I can't answer that.
Ms. Porter. Is it fast--well, I'll yield back. But I just
want to say that it takes 9, 8 days to deliver mail from Santa
Ana to Portland, Oregon. And I'm not that fast of a walker. I'm
not in that good a shape. I could walk there in 13 days. So,
you're not even having the walk time with postal delivery.
I yield back.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you, Ms. Porter. Your time has expired.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi, you are recognized for your five
minutes of questioning.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. Thank you, Chairman.
Mr. Julion, in your testimony you said, ``We are tired of
the disrespect on the workroom floor.'' What are you referring
to?
Mr. Julion. Well, it is well-known within the Postal
Service that there is, in some workplaces, an unhealthy level
of hostility in the workplace when you're trying to get more
out of less, when you don't have enough employees, and you're
making unreasonable demands of those who are at work every day.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. And have you brought this to the
attention of your--of the management of USPS?
Mr. Julion. This indeed has been brought to their
attention. In fact, I believe we still have a work--a task
force in place on a national level dealing with the hostility
on the workroom floor.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. I think that in an interview with WGN
earlier this year you said, ``We had staffing issues prior to
COVID.'' And so is it fair to say that we--you were
understaffed at USPS prior to the pandemic?
Mr. Julion. Yes, it's fair to say that. And, in fact, I
believe the complaints that you get from your constituents
predate the pandemic. And a lot of them will say that the
troubles that they had--in fact, the town hall meetings, a lot
of them that we were involved in with Congressman Davis and
with Congressman Rush were pre-pandemic. And they had the same
issues at that time.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. Very good.
Ms. Perez, in your testimony, you say that two of the
lowest performing mail processing plants in the country are in
greater Chicago. So, 20 percent of the lowest processing plants
in the country are in Chicago, correct?
Ms. Perez. That's correct, according to the Postal Service
data that we analyzed.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. And you also said that Chicago--on page
two of your testimony, Chicago had the second worst service
score of all the postal districts in the country for two-day
letter mail. Isn't that right?
Ms. Perez. Yes, sir.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. I have a poster board with me which
illustrates what we're dealing with here in the Chicago area
and the country. And so, basically, what this illustrates is
the change in postal delivery standards. Before October 1, if
you were in my ZIP Code 60193, before, right here, you could
expect to send a piece of mail by first-class mail, basically
in the Great Lakes region, certainly including the Chicago
area, and have it reach in two days. That's this light blue
area, and then the rest of the country was three days. Isn't
that what this is showing?
Ms. Perez. Correct.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. And today, if you look at what was
implemented on October 1, that same two-day service standard
area has shrunk to Chicagoland and part of Wisconsin. Is that
right?
Ms. Perez. Yes, sir.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. And then the part of the country that
is three-day has now gone to this region of the country,
basically the Eastern Seaboard and the Great Plains, and the
rest is 4 and 5 days. Isn't that right?
Ms. Perez. Correct.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. So, why is it the case that, when a
constituent comes to me and says that a piece of mail was sent
from Northbrook, Illinois, which is in the greater Chicago
area, to another part of the Chicago area, namely, Evanston, it
took three weeks? How could that be?
Ms. Perez. So, again, as we noted in several of our audit
reports, it's oftentimes that there are challenges that are
faced by the Postal Service with regards to whether it's at the
delivery unit, but it could also be at the processing center or
within the transportation.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. Could it be that, because we have some
of the worst performing plants in the country and some of the
lowest service scores in the country, that it's only logical
that we would have some of the lowest delivery standards in the
country?
Ms. Perez. So yes. We'll be looking at those two plants
that we mentioned--that I mentioned in my opening statement----
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. And now we're going into the holiday
season----
Ms. Perez. Correct.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi [continuing]. Where we're about to see a
ton, tons and tons and tons of parcels and pieces of mail and
holiday cards go through this very system, and here we have a
Postal Service that's not ready to handle it.
And so what I'm trying to get at, Mr. Julion, is, do you
think that we're ready for this holiday season?
Mr. Julion. No. We're not.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. Well, thanks for your candor. Now tell
us what needs to be done to get ready for the holiday season
right now because I know a lot of families are really hoping
for a little bit more normal of a holiday season in terms of
postal delivery.
Mr. Julion. To get ready for the holiday season, this
holiday season?
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. Yes, sir.
Mr. Julion. You should have started this summer. I mean,
right now, we're on path to get ready for Easter. When you're
talking about bringing people on board and properly trained to
deliver the mail, it takes time. So, that's why the staffing
issue was important prior to the pandemic because, once the
pandemic hit, we were already exposed, and we were already in a
place that we were not going to be able to handle it like we're
not going to be able to handle the upcoming holiday season if
we're not properly staffed.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. We're not ready.
Mr. Julion. We're not ready.
Mr. Krishnamoorthi. Thank you, Mr. Julion.
Mr. Davis. [Presiding.] Thank you, Mr. Krishnamoorthi. Your
time has expired.
The chair now recognizes Mr. Quigley for five minutes.
Mr. Quigley. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Ms. Perez, you talked about the mail not being fully sorted
before it gets to the carriers. Why is that the case? What is
not happening?
Ms. Perez. So, oftentimes, we find at the processing
center, as I mentioned, they may also have employee
availability issues or other, you know, procedural things that
they're not following at the processing center, and they often
deploy the mail down to the delivery unit without it being
sorted in what's called carrier sequence.
Mr. Quigley. And they're told that's OK, your
understanding? It's out of procedure, right?
Ms. Perez. Correct. That is out of procedure. My
understanding is, based on the location of the country and the
availability of the staff at the delivery unit, they may have
the time to sort the mail into carrier sequence or they may
not. So, I do believe it's a case-by-case basis across the
country.
Mr. Quigley. Well, let me ask, Mr. Morgan, what's the case
here in Chicago? The question had to do with the mail not being
fully sorted before it gets to the carriers.
Mr. Morgan. The letter carriers receive their mail in
various forms. Since my arrival, do we have a challenge here
and there? Yes. Do we have a problem? No. But before--I would
like to go back for a quick second, and I want to ensure that
everyone understands from my perspective as the Postmaster of
the city of Chicago, I am ready for peak season. I ask that our
employees that are on the rolls, please come to work. We are
staffed. We have the availability----
Mr. Quigley. Sir, I want to get to that, but I want to stay
on this stream. So, you're saying you think there's a problem,
but it's being addressed?
Mr. Morgan. No. I'm saying that--no, that's not what I'm
saying. I can't speak nationally; what I can speak about is in
Chicago----
Mr. Quigley. That's all I'm asking.
Mr. Morgan [continuing]. So, to say that does the mail come
100 percent prepared every single time, no. Is there a problem?
No, there is not.
Mr. Quigley. Sir, same question.
Mr. Julion. There has to be a problem if you're moving back
the starting times because you're not getting the mail to the
stations in a timely manner.
Mr. Quigley. To your understanding, is the mail getting to
the carriers not fully sorted?
Mr. Julion. It's getting to the carriers not fully sorted.
And, in fact, there's a lot of carriers on the workroom floor
who are doing clerk work because there are not enough clerks in
these offices as well.
Mr. Quigley. Very good.
Mr. Morgan, back to you. So, at least--there's, at least,
some issue with the mail being fully sorted before it gets to
the carriers. You're changing the whole structure, the
management, and I get it. You're moving things back because you
don't want people sitting around for two hours because the
mail's not getting there on time. But, to your understanding,
what has to happen--to get to the original point--that the mail
is--the mail gets to the carriers that two hours earlier?
You're delaying everything, and it's going to get dark sooner
because it's not getting to you on time and it's not being, at
least in some cases, fully sorted. So, you're managing around
the problem at the beginning, which is what, I think, our
gentleman from the union is trying to tell us. Can't we sort
out the initial problem so you don't have to manage around it.
Mr. Morgan. OK. I'm making sure it was on. Let me state,
again, as an example. There's always going to be a first and
someone's always going to be last. Someone's going to receive
their mail first at four a.m., and there's going to be a unit
that may receive their mail last at nine o'clock. Formally,
Chicago was a district of its own. We're now--all of the area
is now one district. The start time alignment has nothing to do
with--it had everything to do with when the mail is available.
So, on the trip--someone's going to get it first, so if the
truck arrives at four----
Mr. Quigley. Well, let me respectfully stop you. If you got
the mail at the beginning of the day on time, you wouldn't have
to manage around it, which pushes everything back to that
person at the end who gets it in the dark. And I'm here to tell
you, most the members will say, when things get delivered
later, it's more likely that they'll be mistakes. But we also
hear from carriers that they don't like delivering in the dark.
They feel less safe, and it's more difficult to do the job.
So, back to the original question: If we could solve that
two hours at the beginning and the issue that has been raised
about the not being fully sorted, you wouldn't have to manage
around it? I know you want to defend the Postal Service, and I
know you're doing a good job. You're doing the best you can,
but you got to describe it warts and all, sir. If we could
solve that problem where you get that mail and it's properly
sorted two hours before, you wouldn't have to manage around it,
right?
Mr. Morgan. I'm not managing around it now.
Mr. Quigley. It's supposed to get there two hours earlier.
Mr. Morgan. It's not. That's a misunderstanding. It is not
supposed to get there two hours early. Every facility has a
mail arrival profile and a set time that the mail arrives. I
changed the start times here to match the workload when the
mail arrived.
Mr. Quigley. And my time's up. You're managing around the
original sin.
Mr. Davis. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Quigley.
The chair now recognizes Mr. Rush for five minutes.
Mr. Rush. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This has been quite a
hearing.
Ms. Perez, I want to thank you for your timely completion
on the audit that I requested that you did in August 2020 and
confirm the glaring issues around mail delivery that were also
clear to my constituents. The audit found that nearly 16,000
delayed mail pieces was not reported to the customer service
daily reporting system. And I was more concerned to learn that
the Henry McGee and Ashburn stations did not report any--not
one--delay in piece of mail despite having over 10,000 delayed
mail pieces between them.
So my question, how does this underrepresented--how does
this underreporting, rather, and lack of transparency around
mail delays impact the ability of customers, and particularly
low-income Chicagoans, to reliably track and receive vital
items that they desperately need?
Ms. Perez. Sure. Can you hear me?
Mr. Rush. No.
Ms. Perez. OK. So, when the mail is not accurately
reported, it doesn't allow postal management to be able to
adjust fire and implement mitigating factors to be able to
address that so that constituents can get their mail on time.
Mr. Rush. Mr. Julion, you and I have had many--hours and
hours of intense conversation about the mail and delivery. I am
interested in the national systemic issues that the U.S. Postal
Service is confronted with, the DeJoy issues, but--elderly
people in my district, they don't want to hear DeJoy excuses.
And you and I have talked over the years about facing the
leadership, and that was my most strongest disagreement with
Ms. Prater. She just did not provide adequate leadership. And
so--and I just want you to know that I'm looking at leadership,
not excuses. I'm looking at, if there's a problem, then let's
work together to solve the problem. I'm looking at veracity,
people who are upfront, straightforward. Tell my constituents
the problem. They're very intelligent. They can understand it,
but they don't want to be lied to. Work with them and let's
solve these particular problems.
So, Mack, I'm just going to ask you, you have--has there
been a leadership change that you can pinpoint since Ms.
Prater's departure?
Mr. Julion. Well, upon the departure of Ms. Prater, we
still have the same district manager. In fact, the OIG report
was addressed direct to the district manager Randy Stines, and
he failed to address those issues. We have been willing to and
open to working with the new Postmaster. We told him that from
day one. He may be put in a position to fail and not even
realize that. I know we've had three area vice presidents in
the last year, and the last of which has refused to meet with
us.
So, we're trying to work with them. We compromised on some
of the workplace issues. We expedited the bidding process. We
created multi-unit assignments months ago, and some of them
they still have not assigned employees to these assignments.
Mr. Rush. Well, I also want to ask, Mr. Morgan, this
attendance problem was a clear example of what I was concerned
about. If you had people who don't show up for their job
consistently, then you ought to fire them. What prevents you
from firing people who don't show up?
Mr. Morgan. Nothing prevents. What I would say is we have
to do better on our side of the table in training our leaders
to properly address that. We have a collective bargaining
agreement. So, when it's time to address attendance issue,
there's a process. And, even if the individual is guilty by
their actions and if there's a gap in the process, the
individual is retained because of a flaw in the process.
So, my responsibility is to train up my staff so they can
properly address and know how to handle those cases when
they're presented.
Mr. Rush. Firing people who don't show up for work?
Mr. Morgan. Addressing those who are unregular in
attendance, correct--irregular in attendance. I apologize.
Mr. Connolly. [Presiding.] Thank you, Mr. Rush.
And I would also add just listening to Mr. Julion say that
there's a regional vice president who won't meet with union
reps. Is that correct?
Mr. Julion. The latest area vice president I believe he's
been in his position for approximately two months now, Eric
Henry, and we have made multiple requests to meet with him
because we're not getting results from the district manager.
Mr. Connolly. Does that fall within your purview of
responsibility, Mr. Morgan?
Mr. Morgan. No, it does not.
Mr. Connolly. It does not? OK.
Mr. Julion. Area vice president is over him.
Mr. Connolly. Right. Right. So, I know that's going to
concern every member of this delegation to learn of that, and
if we can be helpful in facilitating that, let us know.
The distinguished gentlelady from the great state of
Illinois, Jan Schakowsky, is recognized for her five minutes of
questioning.
Ms. Schakowsky. Thank you.
Mr. Morgan, I have to stay local because we have a couple
of real problems in my congressional district. I have a bunch
of post offices, but just two of them, the Rogers Park and
North Town have consistently--we've had townhall meetings. We
have 200 postcards from the 50th ward just last week. I can't
understand why these post offices have been so consistently bad
and why we continue to have these delivery problems, which are
really serious.
I mean, I hear about medication that isn't delivered, small
businesses that are in real trouble because they aren't
getting--so can you somehow explain to me, and, by the way, you
mentioned the criminal behavior in some of the communities,
this is not true of these particular post office neighborhoods.
What's the deal and why can't we--after a long time and
particularly in this last year when we have literally thousands
of complaints that we can't deal with this? How do you explain
that this happens in just these communities?
Mr. Morgan. I can't. I can't explain how it happened. One,
I wasn't here. What I can say is, since my arrival, what I have
done is, again, we hired additional staff to get to cap. I want
to make sure so it's not that I'm contradicting myself. We
continue to hire to address the attrition. Those who come on
board go through the Carrier Academy, choose not to keep the
assignment, and different things, what we have to do on the
management side. I'll talk about the management side. We have
to do better understanding our job, my staff is extremely new.
We've attrited. We've had a lot of senior leadership retire
out, and now we have new leadership. So, I have to bring them
up to speed so they know how to properly run the facility, to
do better running the facility and giving instructions.
Ms. Schakowsky. Well, let me ask you, Mr. Julion, as
someone who's on the street all the time, how do we quickly
address problems when there are particular problem areas like
we are seeing in my congressional district? What can we do?
Mr. Julion. Well, first and foremost, we have to
acknowledge that a problem exists. I believe in the first step
program. The first step is admitting that there is a problem.
Ms. Schakowsky. Thank you.
Mr. Julion. We've had meetings with the Postmaster. The
same reports that your office has received. He has stated that
he do not believe those reports, that they are inaccurate. You
get the complaints from your customers. You tell me are those
reports accurate or not. I've invited him to meet me on any
workroom floor and to see if mail was not being delivered. We
have yet to meet on a workroom floor, but I understand recently
he has been on several workroom floors, and he has seen for
himself that mail is not being delivered, that mail was being
hidden, in the case in Cicero. You were there recently, that he
had to walk some managers and supervisors off the workroom
floor because they are still falsifying information, stopping
the clock on packages. You hear this from your customers--your
constituents all the time, that a package was scanned delivered
or attempted, and they were at home. There was no delivery or
there----
Ms. Schakowsky. Some of my constituents are told it was
delivered, even though it wasn't delivered.
Mr. Julion. Yes. I'm a customer, and I would go on the
internet, and I'm waiting on a package, and they say it's
delivered; I expect it to be at my home. The reality of it is
it's not right now because they're still falsifying data. Let's
be honest: No one is trying to put the Postal Service down
here. I think there's no greater love for the Postal Service
than us who work for the Postal Service. We know that, when
we're at the top of our game, we're the best at what we do. We
deliver for FedEx. We deliver for Amazon. We deliver for UPS.
They come to us because we are the best. Right now in Chicago,
we're not the best, but we can be the best. But we have to have
an honest assessment of the problem and be willing to work
toward fixing it. We're willing to work with them toward fixing
this problem.
Ms. Schakowsky. Well, and I want to work with you to make
sure that we can clean it up in my community. And if I have a
minute, I don't know if I do still--am I out of time?
Mr. Connolly. No.
Ms. Schakowsky. Oh, OK. I just want to, again, ask
Postmaster Morgan, I would like to just close with this
question by asking that you provide Congress with a plan and a
timetable for addressing the issues that are highlighted by the
inspector general's report. Can we get a timeline and a report
on how we're going to solve these problems in the Chicago area?
Mr. Morgan. You're asking for a response to the OIG report,
am I understanding you correctly?
Ms. Schakowsky. Yes.
Mr. Connolly. The gentlelady's time has expired, but Mr.
Morgan may respond.
Mr. Morgan. I believe that we did have a response, but I
will get with our government affairs team, and I'll provide an
official answer for the record.
Ms. Schakowsky. Thank you.
Mr. Morgan. You're welcome.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you.
Distinguished gentlelady from the great state of Illinois,
Ms. Lauren Underwood, is recognized for her five minutes of
questioning.
Ms. Underwood. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And thank you to our witnesses for joining us here today.
Today we've heard about unacceptable declines in service
nationwide and specifically here in Chicago, but I also want to
highlight what it means for the rural communities, like the
ones in my district where USPS is often the provider of last-
mile delivery.
Ms. Perez, has the Office of the Inspector General or USPS
itself analyzed how the recent declines in service levels have
specifically impacted rural communities?
Ms. Perez. We do have some ongoing work looking at that,
and I believe it'll be issued later this fall.
Ms. Underwood. OK. So, going forward, has USPS developed a
strategy to ensure that rural communities are not
disproportionately impacted by reductions in service standards
or other changes laid out in the Postal Service's 10-year plan?
Ms. Perez. Unfortunately, I don't have that information
readily available, but I'm happy to provide it to you after the
hearing.
Ms. Underwood. For the record?
Ms. Perez. Sure.
Ms. Underwood. OK. As part of the consolidation of district
offices, USPS plans to combine the Chicago district with other
parts of northern Illinois. Ms. Perez, as is the case with most
regions, the Postal Service is a major employer--a source of
good-paying, union jobs. Has there been an analysis of how this
consolidation will impact the postal work force in northern
Illinois?
Ms. Perez. I can't speak to that. I'm not sure.
Ms. Underwood. Will you get back to us for the record?
Ms. Perez. Yes, ma'am.
Ms. Underwood. OK Postmaster General DeJoy's 10-year plan
involves raising prices while also cutting services.
Ostensibly, the goal here is to save money, but this could have
a major impact on small businesses operating on tight margins
and could even drive more customers away from the Postal
Service. Accelerating the reduction demand for U.S. mail could
harm the long-term financial health and stability of the Postal
Service.
Ms. Perez, has there been any analysis or modeling of the
impact these price increases or lowering of service standards
could have on consumer demand for first-class mail?
Ms. Perez. So, with regards to the 10-year plan, Delivering
for America, we personally have not done any analysis of the
plan as of yet. We do have an ongoing audit looking at the
underlying assumptions of the plan, as well as how the Postal
Service will monitor implementation. And, of course, with
regards to the changes outlined in the plan, we'll be
monitoring that going forward as well.
Ms. Underwood. And who would do the analysis of that plan?
Ms. Perez. So, we would do independent oversight and our
own analysis to determine whether or not there's
recommendations we can make with regards to the implementation
of different initiatives with regards to the plan, but as far
as whether or not the Postal Service did any independent
analysis of their own, you would have to ask that to the Postal
Service.
Ms. Underwood. OK. And, Mr. Morgan, are you aware of that
type of analysis?
Mr. Morgan. No, I am not. That's a national issue so that
would have to be directed to headquarters.
Ms. Underwood. OK. And, Mr. Morgan, in your role as the
Chicago Postmaster, I assume that you work closely with other
postmasters across the region?
Mr. Morgan. I have conversations with them, but my purview
is strictly the city of Chicago.
Ms. Underwood. OK. And so, in those conversations, do you
address service delivery times or any kind of bottlenecks that
you're seeing within the larger Chicagoland region among
service delivery times?
Mr. Morgan. If I have an issue that pertains to Chicago,
yes, we absolutely address it.
Ms. Underwood. OK. So, in terms of your supervision then,
are you all held to a larger, you know, regional standard
around--can you just talk about any kind of lines of
communication or formal practices between the Chicago
Postmaster region and where I represent, right, which is the
suburbs and rural areas outside the city?
Mr. Morgan. No. So, you have to understand the structure.
So the rural area, they have their own independent Postmaster.
Ms. Underwood. Correct. That's right.
Mr. Morgan. They receive their mail from our processing
plants. So, we all receive our mail from the processing plants,
so we do come together daily. And if there's, as you said, a
bottleneck, we have that conversation. If the mail is stuck
here or if there's an availability issue or whatever may arise,
we get together, and then we fix it, yes.
Ms. Underwood. And then, during your tenure, I understand
that you're newer in this role.
Mr. Morgan. I am.
Ms. Underwood. Yes. Can you give us some metrics that
you've seen regarding the processing times leading to
bottlenecks to the larger service delivery area?
Mr. Morgan. Metrics, no, I can't. I can't particularly give
you metrics, but I can provide some for the record.
Ms. Underwood. OK. Oh, but USPS does track those things?
Mr. Morgan. I can give you our service numbers, yes. I can
have those submitted, and I'm pretty sure we also gave service
numbers in my written testimony.
Ms. Underwood. OK. Thank you all so much for being here.
I yield back.
Mr. Connolly. The gentlelady yields back.
Ms. Newman----
Ms. Newman. Thank you.
Mr. Connolly [continuing]. In whose district I intend to
visit tonight and tomorrow, welcome. And you are recognized for
your five minutes of questioning.
Ms. Newman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And please have a good
time. It's the best district, really.
So thank you, Mack, for being here. I appreciate it so
much.
Mr. Morgan, I really appreciate you. You've had a hard job
since you came in, and we recognize that, and thank you for
working with me on the Mount Greenwood and some of the Illinois
three postal issues. You were very helpful, and we did bring
delays down. So, I want to commend you for that.
Mack, I'm going to go back to a comment you made that was
really concerning to me. You said something about postal
supervisor fraud, and that's a big word. So, let's talk about
that.
Mr. Julion. It's a big word, but it's rampant. It's a
reality. It contributes----
Ms. Newman. Can you define it?
Mr. Julion. It attributes to some of the low morale in the
workplace. When we're talking--I think it was recently reported
about the instances of management stealing time, time clock
fraud. This is an effort to show that we're getting more work
done in a less amount of hours. It has been something rampant
in the Chicago post office for the past few years to the extent
that a grievance settlement--we have three letter carriers
working full time--no, we need letter carriers on the street
working full time to audit the clock rings of supervisors, yet
they were still shaving hours, knowing that they're being
watched, shaving hours off the carriers' time.
Recently, we had a grievance settlement roughly about half
a million dollars paid out to letter carriers across Chicago
because they were stealing time. This is over and above the
time that they had to restore back to them. It is a reality.
Ms. Newman. Mr. Morgan, can you--I'd like to hear your side
of that.
Mr. Morgan. Absolutely. One, what we are speaking of is a
past audit or grievance, if you will, and there was a team
done, and my understanding of that, there was fraud, and that
was being addressed. It was wrongdoing.
Now, upon my arrival, I did learn of the team and, again, I
can't fix the past, but all I can do is to start to put things
in place and then address it going forward. Now, in our line of
work, I'm managing people. So, depending on what people do,
it's my response. So, we are taught, we are trained to do the
right thing. Should someone's behavior veer the wrong way, then
it is addressed. And that the text audit or grievance that
we're speaking of, that was, I want to say--correct me if I am
wrong, Mack--2018, 2019, I believe, 2018, 2019, and, currently,
it was closed out. Our latest sweep found no flaws. That was
the most recent, but that was a review of the past, and that
was found and that was the grievance was sustained.
Ms. Newman. OK. Thank you.
And then would you respond to that, Mack? Are there any new
cases?
Mr. Julion. Yes. It was closed out as a matter of
settlement, but one thing that we can say, as far as
accountability, those supervisors are still on the workroom
floor. So, you have opportunity to address them and their
habits and what they've done. They are still in the workplace.
Ms. Newman. OK. Couple more questions during my time here.
So, recruiting staffing and training, kind of hard all over the
place and just hard in regular times as I've run organizations.
So can you estimate, Mr. Morgan, what level of productivity
increase we might have if we brought back those 30 percent of
the sorting machines that were taken away by DeJoy a year, year
and a half ago, two years ago, whatever it was?
Mr. Morgan. No, I can't. That's logistics, and that's not
my area of expertise.
Ms. Newman. Yes. I would like an answer to that. So, if
there's a way for your team to identify how much more
productivity we might be able to receive if, in fact, those
sorting machines were reinstalled that were taken out, we'd
appreciate that for the record, and it would be helpful to us.
Mr. Morgan. I'll take that back to our government relations
team and I'll see----
Mr. Connolly. Would the gentlelady yield without prejudice
to her time?
Ms. Newman. Sure.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you.
Mr. Morgan, just to followup on that. You have sorting
machines?
Mr. Morgan. No. I do not. I am the Postmaster of Chicago.
The sorting machines are inside of our mail processing plants.
That is not my authority.
Mr. Connolly. OK.
Mr. Morgan. I do not have any machines.
Mr. Connolly. Are you familiar with sorting machines?
Mr. Morgan. I am.
Mr. Connolly. And what on a daily basis can one sorting
machine process? How many pieces of mail?
Mr. Morgan. Thousands.
Mr. Connolly. Thousands?
Ms. Newman. Mr. Chair, I believe it's close to 30,000,
actually.
Mr. Connolly. Correct.
Mr. Morgan. Well, that would depend on the machine. We have
multiple machines, and there are some that can do 30,000,
correct.
Mr. Connolly. My point would be, you would certainly
concede, even though it doesn't fall within your purview right
now, that Ms. Newman's point, the withdraw of machines clearly
would have an impact on volume of mail being sorted and thus,
ultimately, delivered?
Mr. Morgan. I wouldn't concur with that without analyzing
the data, looking at everything. Those machines don't run--will
run on its own. It needs volume to process. It needs people to
process. So, I couldn't say that, hey, we bring those back,
because I would have to look at the entire picture to make that
determination.
Mr. Connolly. OK. So, at least, would you not
intellectually concede that, in theory, the withdraw of a
number of machines be on the normal maintenance schedule could
have an impact on delivery schedules?
Mr. Morgan. Again, that's a very big ask.
Ms. Newman. Chairman, if I may answer because I do know
this.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you for yielding.
Ms. Newman. Thank you. And thank you for yielding back.
Because I have experience with USPS as management consultant, I
can tell you the answer is yes. I just don't have the exact
number, but the answer is definitely yes.
Mr. Morgan. So, again, this is what I will say, and this
will just be an example, if I am in the plant and I have a
million pieces of mail, and that's, just for an example, it
takes two machines, and I got rid of two machines because I
already have two to do that work, I would have excess. So, why
would I run excess when what I have can do the job that's
needed?
Now, I can't debate what's national and what's in each
district. I'm just saying that's what I will look at. I'm
looking at an entire picture; I wouldn't universally just jump.
I would analyze and then make that decision.
Ms. Newman. For sure. Let's give you that opportunity to
work with the plant to discern that. However, what I can tell
you right now, because I talk to postal workers every day is
that things are not getting sorted. We also know how many
machines were taken out. That's well documented in the public
record. So, we know two things, is that on the folks that work
inside the postal station and the letter carriers are seeing
the backlog, and it would be largely prevented by sorting
machines. There is no question about that.
So, what I'm saying is, is that what I would like you to do
is engage with your plant and understand, because they have
those metrics because I know they do, and ask them, how could
we benefit from having more productivity from our machines? And
the answer is to reinstate those machines Mr. DeJoy had taken
out. So, that's what we're asking you to discern and put in the
record for us. I appreciate that. Thank you.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you. Let me just ask a final question.
I have not used my five minutes yet, but I have interrupted now
and then. Listening to this whole hearing, one thing that
really struck me as extraordinary, Mr. Morgan, was that the
postmaster general of Chicago is pleading with his own
employees to come back to work and work.
Mr. Morgan. Uh-huh.
Mr. Connolly. What is the adjudication of people who are
under contract to work, namely, an employment agreement, who
don't show up for work?
Mr. Morgan. We have a collective bargaining agreement. So,
what I would say is that it's not the union's job to address
attendance. I would appreciate the union's efforts in promoting
being regular in attendance, public statement to draw those who
are at home to come back to work. It's our job, again, as I
stated earlier, we have a collective bargaining agreement----
Mr. Connolly. I understand. So, what do you attribute the
fact that they're not coming to work?
Mr. Morgan. That's the million dollar question. I would
love to know that.
Mr. Connolly. Do you know, Mr. Julion?
Mr. Julion. I don't think it's simply a matter of people
who are not coming back to work. I think it's a matter of not
having enough. I've been in the Postal Service for 25 years----
Mr. Connolly. Not having enough what?
Mr. Julion. Not having enough employees because we've been
in the Postal Service for 24 years, and there's one provision
that will get you removed from the Postal Service, and that's
failure to maintain regular attendance. We tell this of new
hires. Two quick ways to get out the door: take something
that's not yours and failure to maintain regular attendance.
Now it's incumbent upon management to enforce that.
Mr. Connolly. Exactly. I understand the collective
bargaining agreement, I understand consulting with the union.
But you just heard from the union saying, hey, if you don't
show up to work, that's a great way to be shown the door by
management and management needs to enforce that.
Is that your--are you prepared to do that, Mr. Morgan?
Mr. Morgan. Absolutely. Currently, Chairman Connolly, I
have an attendance team, three dedicated specialists that does
nothing but address attendance for----
Mr. Connolly. OK. All right. Well, I thank you all. For the
record--and I think Mr. Rush and I want to insert into the
record several reports: the audit report on mail delivering and
customer service issues in select stations here in Chicago;
operational changes to mail delivery, also an inspector general
report; the nationwide service performance report of the
inspector general; and, finally, the service performance first-
class single piece letter mail for the--I ask unanimous consent
that they be entered into the record.
Without objection, so ordered.
Mr. Foster. Mr. Chair? Mr. Chair?
Mr. Connolly. Hold on. Hold on. Is that Mr. Foster?
Mr. Foster. It is indeed.
Mr. Connolly. It is. I'm just about to recognize you, Mr.
Foster. I was buying you some time.
Our final questioner in this hearing is Mr. Bill Foster,
Congressman from the great state of Illinois.
Mr. Foster, you are recognized for your five minutes.
Mr. Foster. Well, thank you, Mr. Chair, and to our
witnesses. I really appreciate it.
You know, and I guess I have sort of hyperlocal question.
In my district, especially in Woodridge, Illinois, we've had
huge numbers of reports of very severe mail delivery from
residents who live east of Route 53, but the answer we get back
and what appears to be a fairly local concern is that we just,
you know, chronic under staffing problems, which we've been
talking about a lot in this hearing.
And so, you know, my questions, when you look at the job
market today and the fact that record numbers of people are
quitting all of their jobs, and then, if you say, what are the
reasons people are quitting, is they just don't find it
rewarding. So many of us spend so much time scowling at screens
these days instead of feeling like we're doing real work. And,
you know, maybe--I always whenever I see postal delivery
personnel, they're smiling, and I was just wondering, have you
had any success just saying that this is actually a rewarding
job, instead of getting into, you know, all of the different
ways that you're trying to be competitive? Do you find that
this is actually seen the way I think it's felt by postal
workers as being a job where you're really doing something
important for society? Does that work? Mr. Julion? Mr. Morgan?
Mr. Julion. Absolutely. As I stated earlier, you know, we
do, indeed, have absolute love for the Postal Service. That's
why we're here. That's why we raise concerns about the service
issues, and I do want to take the opportunity to--I know there
has been some critique of the FMLA leave and that which was
passed by Congress as reason for poor mail service. I want to
thank you on behalf of the letter carriers and postal workers
because COVID is real. It was real then, and it's real now, and
some of our members had to utilize that. And we would've really
appreciate the--what you were trying to do with the HEROES Act
in terms of the hazard pay, and maybe there's funds still left
over that you can consider that, but no.
We definitely appreciate the mission for which we were
sworn, and that's delivering mail. We love our jobs.
Mr. Foster. Yes. And there's one thing I think that all
Americans should understand is that, when they see a postal
delivery worker, smile and wave and just let them know that you
really appreciate the Postal Service because this is a deeply
nonscientific question, and it doesn't have to do with contract
terms or all the things you normally wrestle with, but it's an
important part.
And so--and then, specifically, are you addressing the
recruiting and training people from the point of view of the
VER, the Voluntary Early Retirement, option in place, and
what's the resulting impact of that, and did that have a
significant direct effect on the shortage?
Mr. Morgan. Are you asking that locally?
Mr. Foster. Well, locally and globally both.
Mr. Morgan. I can't speak globally, sir, but locally the
VER did not have a drastic impact on our staffing. No. It did
not.
Mr. Foster. OK. So, it's not like in many businesses,
they're just large numbers of people who have been counting the
days until they can retire and are now leaping at it, so that's
not it. OK.
Well, anyway, I just really appreciate your attending to
this issue. It's a big deal for the people we represent, and
thank you all.
And I'll yield back.
Mr. Morgan. Thank you.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you, Congressman Foster.
And, just following up on what you just said, I think it's
important to note that in that HEROES Act we talked about,
Congress, in fact, had provided I think $25 billion for postal
relief for an injection of liquidity and to try to help out an
extraordinary cost during a pandemic, including overtime and
other things. And that actually got into the draft final of the
bill, and then Secretary Mnuchin went to President Trump, and
President Trump threatened to veto the entire bill over this
item. He wanted no relief to the Postal Service. And so the
only relief in almost $6 trillion of COVID-related
appropriations was a $10 billion loan that we finally converted
into a grant, a loan that originally, because of the terms
Steve Mnuchin, the Secretary of Treasury, set were so
unacceptable to the Postal Service, they couldn't use it. And
here we are talking about how beloved the Postal Service is. We
bailed out the cruise industry. We bailed out the airline
industry, on and on, but we certainly did not bail out the
Postal Service. And that's why postal reform is so important
right now because it's the only mechanism for direct relief
that is so badly needed.
You have a unanimous consent request, Ms. Schakowsky, for
the record?
Ms. Schakowsky. Yes. I would like to insert in the record--
I think it's good to have these individuals inserted into the
record on their comments and their concerns. And there are also
a couple of elected officials, including Debra Silverstein that
have asked to be included in the record.
Mr. Connolly. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. Connolly. The chair would also add two statements for
the record from the National Newspaper Association.
Mr. Connolly. Mr. Davis?
Mr. Davis. I ask unanimous consent to insert into the
record letters from constituents.
Mr. Connolly. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. Connolly. Is there anything else for the record?
Seeing and hearing none, without objection, all members
will have five legislative days within which to submit
extraneous materials and submit additional written questions
for the witnesses through and to the chair, which will then
be--what's that? Sorry.
Ms. Schakowsky. Can I just say----
Mr. Connolly. Which will be forwarded to the witnesses for
response.
Ms. Schakowsky. It was Debra Silverstein and two alderman
and Maria Haddon. I wanted to say their names.
Mr. Connolly. OK.
Ms. Schakowsky. Thank you.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you for clarifying that.
I also want to thank my colleagues, especially from the
Chicago area. I can't think of a field hearing that's had this
kind of attendance and interest and commitment.
And I think it really does speak volumes about how critical
this issue is, Mr. Morgan, for you and your colleagues and also
how important it is to the people who live here, and I know you
know that. And I sensed you're committed to try to make that
better for them, but we cannot settle for lower standards and
then charge higher prices. We have to get performance back up
to where it was. The American people deserve no less, and
during a pandemic, it's about life and death in some cases.
So, this is serious business, and that's why we had this
hearing and why it got so much--very high-level participation
and interest.
So, with that, I thank our witnesses for being here today
and this hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 1:43 p.m. C.T., the subcommittee was
adjourned.]
[all]