2020 United States Postal Service crisis

The 2020 United States Postal Service crisis was a series of events that caused backlogs and delays in the delivery of mail by the United States Postal Service (USPS). The crisis stems primarily from changes implemented by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy shortly after taking office in June 2020.[1][2][3] The delays have had substantial legal, political, economic, and health repercussions.[1][2][4][5][6]

On August 18, 2020, under heavy political and legal pressure, DeJoy announced that he would be "suspending" the policy changes until after the November 2020 election.[7] He testified to the Senate on August 21, and to the House of Representatives on August 24, concerning the changes and their effects.[1]

Financial relief later arrived in the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022, signed by President Joe Biden.

  1. ^ a b c Bogage, Jacob; Marks, Joseph (August 17, 2020). "House accelerates oversight of Postal Service as uproar grows, demanding top officials testify at 'urgent' hearing". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on August 17, 2020. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  2. ^ a b Broadwater, Luke; Healy, Jack; Shear, Michael D.; Fuchs, Hailey (August 15, 2020). "Postal Crisis Ripples Across Nation as Election Looms". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 15, 2020. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
  3. ^ Warren, Michael; Holmes, Kristen. "With slower mail and election concerns, Trump's postmaster general is in the hot seat". CNN. Archived from the original on August 18, 2020. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  4. ^ Panetta, Grace. "What you need to know about US Postal Service's funding crisis, and how it could impact your vote in the November election". Business Insider. Archived from the original on August 17, 2020. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  5. ^ Holmes, Kristen; Stracqualursi, Veronica (August 14, 2020). "In new letter, USPS chief acknowledges 'unintended consequences' of recent policy changes". CNN. Archived from the original on August 16, 2020. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  6. ^ Breuninger, Kevin (August 13, 2020). "Trump says he is refusing additional post office funding as part of his fight against mail-in voting". CNBC. Archived from the original on August 19, 2020. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  7. ^ Bogage, Jacob (August 18, 2020). "Postmaster general announces he is 'suspending' policies that were blamed for causing mail delays". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on August 18, 2020. Retrieved August 18, 2020.