Thursday, May 07, 2020

A top Trump donor is named the new postmaster general

North Carolina businessman Louis DeJoy, a top donor to President Trump, has been named the new head of the U.S. Postal Service. DeJoy is currently leading fund-raising efforts for the Republican National Convention in Charlotte.

"The action will install a stalwart Trump ally to lead the Postal Service, which he has railed against for years, and probably move him closer than ever before to forcing the service to renegotiate its terms with companies and its own union workforce," Josh Dawsey, Lisa Rein and Jacob Bogage report for The Washington Post. "Trump’s Treasury Department and the Postal Service are in the midst of a negotiation over a $10 billion line of credit approved as part of coronavirus legislation in March."

Trump has indicated that he wants the Postal Service to increase its fees for delivering packages for customers like Amazon—especially in rural areas where it costs USPS more to make deliveries—in exchange for tapping the line of credit, the Post reports.

Robert M. Duncan, chairman of the Postal Service Board of Governors, expressed support for the appointment in a statement, the Post reports: "Louis DeJoy understands the critical public service role of the United States Postal Service, and the urgent need to strengthen it for future generations."

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