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Philadelphia – President Donald Trump On Friday he said he was the US postal service Under the control of the Commerce department in what an executive branch takeover of the office would be, which has been operated as an independent entity since 1970.
“We want a post office that works well and not losing huge amounts of money,” said Trump. “We think we can imitate it. And it will be a form of a merger, but it remains the postal service and I think it will work much better. “
Trump made the comments on the to wave from trade secretary Howard Lutnick. He called the move a way to stop losses at the $ 78 billion agency a year, which has had difficulty balancing the books with the decline of first-class e-mail.
“He has a great business instinct, that’s what we need, and we look at it, and we think we can turn it around,” Trump said about Lutnick. “It was just a great loser for this country, huge amounts of money they have lost.”
Here are some things to know about our Postal Service Operations:
What is the history of the USPS?
The post office was founded during the second continental congress in Philadelphia in 1775, when Benjamin Franklin became the first postmaster general. In 1872 the congress called it a department executive branch. But that changed to wages and benefits in 1970 after an eight -day mail strike, when President Richard Nixon signed the Postal Reorganization Act, making it an independent, self -financing agency called the US Postal Service.
In recent years, because it sometimes has difficulty floating, the postal service has that evoke Van Trump and others that it is privatized.
Who works for the USPS?
The reorganization of 1970 gave employees wage increases and the right to collective negotiations, as a result of which generations of Americans, in particular blacks and other minorities, moved in the middle class. Nowadays, the USPS employs around 640,000 employees who are responsible for delivering e-mail, medicines, election balls and packages throughout the country, from inner cities to rural areas and even distant islands. They remained employed during the Corona PandemieWhen the American Postal Workers Union says that more than 200 post employees died.
Who runs the USPS?
Postmaster -General Louis DeJoy, a Republican donor who owned a logistics company, was appointed to Leiden the American post service during the first term of Trump in 2020. He viewed during his term of office, including the Pandemie, Mail-in election ballot papers And attempts to steal losses Due to cost and service cuts. He announced a 10-year Turnaround plan last year, but earlier this week he said he was planning To resign And asked the Postal Service Board of Governors to look for its successor.
Who is in the American postboard and how are they selected?
The board consists of a maximum of nine members, appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. No more than five members can come from the same political party.
The current chairman is Amber F. MCreynolds, a former election officer from Colorado. The vice -chairman, Derek can, worked in the first Trump administration. Both were appointed by President Joe Biden.
Three vacancies remain on the board after the Senate has not voted for the nominees of Biden to fill those seats. Biden appointed four of the current six governors and Trump Two.
The board has the power to hire and dismiss the Postmaster General. Both that person and a deputy postmaster also serve in the board.
How are the USPs financed?
Since the 1970 reorganization, the USPS has largely been financed themselves. The majority of his annual budget of $ 78.5 billion comes from customer costs, according to the Congressional Research Service. The congress offers a relatively small annual appropriation- around $ 50 million in the tax year 2023- to subsidize free and reduced costs.
In the midst of challenges that include the decrease in profitable first-class e-mail and the costs of retired benefits, the postal service has been collected $ 87 billion in losses from 2007 to 2020.
Last year Dejoy announced a 10-year plan to modernize activities and voice losses, warning customers to expect “Uncomfortable” interest rate increases Because the postal service tries to stabilize its finances.
Critics, including members of the congress from different states, said that the first consolidations delayed the services and that further consolidations could in particular harm the delivery of the national mail.
How does President Trump see the USPS?
Trump has been a critic of the postal service since his first term of office. In 2020 he threatened to block it for COVID-19 Relief financing, unless it quadrupled the package prices that charges the large customers such as Amazon, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos. Bezos also has the Washington Post, whose coverage Trump ranked.
More recently, Trump recovered in December about the privatization of the service in view of the competition with which it was confronted with Amazon, UPS, Fedex and others.
“It is an idea that many people have had a long time. We look at it, “said the president.