Joe Biden moves to replace US Postal Service board members

A lot of citizens have shown frustration and criticism for the current USPS head Louis DeJoy, especially for his efforts in sabotaging the postal service in 2020 in the midst of a pandemic and the elections. US President Joe Biden has immediately moved towards appointing two more members of the USPS Board of governors, a step closer to removing DeJoy.

Biden was praised for immediately moving to replace two USPS board members, Ron Bloom and John Barger, who have stayed loyal to their support of DeJoy, even as DeJoy has been fraught with scandals over the worsening mail delivery performance. Biden has immediately nominated former General Services Administration official Daniel Tangherlini and former deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget Derek Kan to the two spots.

Should Biden’s nominations get confirmed by the Senate, his nominees will have a majority on the postal board, which will garner enough votes to fire DeJoy from his position. Replacing Bloom and Barger is just a step towards deterring any right-wing assault on the country’s postal service, which is something progressive advocates and Democratic lawmakers have stressed.

Bloom and Barger were both nominated to the board by Biden’s immediate predecessor Donald Trump, who tried to sabotage the 2020 general elections that relied on mail-in voting due to the pandemic. DeJoy, who was a Trump donor, was selected to lead the board in May of 2020. DeJoy moved to overhaul mail service operations and slow package deliveries, angering many Americans.

Biden’s decision to replace Bloom, whose term expires in December, also came as a surprise to many, according to The Washington Post. This comes as Trump-appointed board members nominated to re-elect him to the board, something that Bloom has told his inner circle. Bloom’s re-election by the board also comes as Biden-appointed members voice objections.

In other related news, the Biden administration has suspended its enforcement of a vaccine mandate for private businesses in compliance with a court order by the conservative fifth circuit. The circuit court last week ordered the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to pause enforcing a vaccine mandate to make no further enforcements until a further court order.