User:Jonathan with U.S. Postal Service/USPS During Trump administration draft

During the Trump administration (current version)
As part of a June 2018 governmental reorganization plan, the Donald Trump administration proposed turning USPS into "a private postal operator" which could save costs through measures like delivering mail fewer days per week, or delivering to central locations instead of door to door. There was strong bipartisan opposition to the idea in Congress.

In April 2020, Congress approved a $10 billion loan from the Treasury to the post office. According to The Washington Post, officials under Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin suggested using the loan as leverage to give the Treasury Department more influence on USPS operations, including making them raise their charges for package deliveries, a change long sought by President Trump.

In May 2020, in a controversial move, President Trump appointed Louis DeJoy, the first postmaster general in the last two decades who had no prior experience within the United States Postal Service.

DeJoy—until 2014 CEO of New Breed Logistics (a controversial Postal Service contractor), and until 2018 a board member its new parent, XPO Logistics, whose postal contracts expanded during DeJoy's postmaster general role—was a major donor and fundraiser for the Republican Party (from 2017, a deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee, until appointed postmaster general, and later million-dollar donor to the 2020 Trump campaign while postmaster general).

DeJoy immediately began taking measures to reduce costs, such as banning overtime and extra trips to deliver mail. While DeJoy admitted that these measures were causing delays in mail delivery, he said they would eventually improve service.

More than 600 high-speed mail sorting machines were scheduled to be dismantled and removed from postal facilities, raising concerns that mailed ballots for the November 3 election might not reach election offices on time.

Mail collection boxes were removed from the streets in many cities; after photos of boxes being removed were spread on social media, a postal service spokesman said they were being moved to higher traffic areas but that the removals would stop until after the election.

The inspector general for the postal service opened an investigation into the recent changes. On August 16 the House of Representatives was called back from its summer recess to consider a bill rolling back all of the changes.

On August 18, 2020, after days of heavy criticism and the day after lawsuits against the Postal Service and DeJoy personally were filed in federal court by several individuals, DeJoy announced that he would roll back all the changes until after the November election. He said he would reinstate overtime hours, roll back service reductions, and halt the removal of mail-sorting machines and collection boxes. However, 95 percent of the mail sorting machines that were planned for removal had already been removed, and according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, DeJoy said he has no intention of replacing them or the mail collection boxes.

On December 27, 2020, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 forgave the previous $10 billion loan.

During the Trump administration (revised version)
As part of a June 2018 governmental reorganization plan, the Donald Trump administration proposed turning USPS into "a private postal operator" which could save costs through measures like delivering mail fewer days per week, or delivering to central locations instead of door to door. There was strong bipartisan opposition to the idea in Congress.

In April 2020, Congress approved a $10 billion loan from the Treasury to the post office. According to The Washington Post, officials under Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin suggested using the loan as leverage to give the Treasury Department more influence on USPS operations, including making them raise their charges for package deliveries, a change long sought by President Trump.

In May 2020, the bipartisan USPS Board of Governors appointed Louis DeJoy postmaster general. He became the first postmaster general in nearly two decades who had no prior experience within the United States Postal Service. From 1983 until 2014, DeJoy was CEO of New Breed Logistics and until 2018, he had been a board member of XPO Logistics, which merged with New Breed in 2015. He was also a Republican party fundraiser.

Upon taking charge of the Postal Service, DeJoy began implementing measures to reduce costs, such as banning overtime and extra trips to deliver mail. While DeJoy admitted that these measures were causing delays in mail delivery, he said they would eventually improve service. The inspector general for the Postal Service opened an investigation into the effects of these measures.

In the summer of 2020, the longstanding practice of removing mail collection boxes from low-traffic areas became a controversial issue, as photos of their removal spread on social media. This practice had been ongoing for decades, due to the public's declining use of first-class mail. More than 600 high-speed mail sorting machines were scheduled to be dismantled and removed from postal facilities, raising concerns that mailed ballots for the November 3 election might not reach election offices on time.

On August 16, 2020, the House of Representatives was called back from its summer recess to consider a bill rolling back USPS measures such as the decommissioning of sorting machines and ending of overtime pay.

On August 18, 2020, after days of heavy criticism and the day after lawsuits against the Postal Service and DeJoy personally were filed in federal court by several individuals, DeJoy announced that he would roll back all the changes until after the November election. He said he would reinstate overtime hours, roll back service reductions, and halt the removal of mail-sorting machines and collection boxes. However, 95 percent of the mail sorting machines that were planned for removal had already been removed, and according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, DeJoy said he had no intention of replacing them or the mail collection boxes.

On December 27, 2020, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 forgave the previous $10 billion loan.