[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 55 (Wednesday, March 26, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S1854]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Tribute to Louis DeJoy
Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I will be brief. I know we are coming up
on a vote.
I just wanted to come to the floor and thank my friend and fellow
North Carolinian, Louis DeJoy, for his service as Postmaster General.
He announced a few weeks back his intent to resign, and that has been
accelerated. Hopefully, he will come back and continue to provide
advice on a transition plan for the U.S. Postal Service that is unlike
any transition in the Postal Service's modern history.
Louis DeJoy is a very successful businessperson who many people
believe was appointed to Postmaster General because he has also
historically been a big supporter of President Trump, but the reality
is that Louis DeJoy was identified by the Postal Service Board through
a nationwide search as one of the most capable people in the United
States to be Postmaster General. That is because he had built an idea
around a kitchen table of an enterprise that ultimately became a
business that, when it was sold, was nearly worth $1 billion, in
transportation and logistics.
Louis came to the Postal Service a little less than 5 years ago and
really shook things up, but in the process of doing that, I believe he
has created a plan that is a best practice for what we are attempting
to do with the Department of Government Efficiency. He has gone across
the Nation. He has listened to the concerns of Members of Congress and
of Members of the Senate. He has been to Alaska. He has gone out in the
rural areas. He understands the unique mission of the U.S. Postal
Service.
Many people may not realize that it was designated in the
Constitution, at the urging of Benjamin Franklin, to do something very
different: to have a constitutional mandate to make sure that every
household in the United States of America could be visited if, in fact,
they had somebody with a post that needed to get to them. That is
extraordinary.
In North Carolina, we are a 50-50 State--about 50 percent urban, 50
percent rural. So you can make, maybe, the numbers and logistics work
there. But when you go to States like Alaska, Montana--some of these
large, expansive, rural States--the U.S. Postal Service is the only way
to touch those communities. The postal package carriers can do a little
bit of it, but it makes no economic sense for them to go there.
So Louis inherits this very complex and efficient organization and
puts together a transformation plan that is only beginning. And he is
going to be leaving the Postal Service, but I just wanted my friend and
what I consider to be one of the best Postmaster Generals in modern
times--I don't want his work and the impact that he is having to be
lost on anyone. I do hope that this administration recognizes the work
that has been put into that plan and that we have to carry it through.
It is great work.
As for my friend Louis DeJoy, I am going to miss talking with him on
postal matters, but what I will miss in that I will gain in having him
back in North Carolina. I just wanted to state for the record that I
appreciate his dedication and the sacrifice for this job. He certainly
had many other opportunities, and I think that the American people owe
him a debt of gratitude.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.