August 24, 2020

Katie Porter Reveals Just How Little Louis DeJoy Knows About the Mail

Tom Williams/CNP/Zuma

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About five hours into Louis DeJoy’s congressional testimony Monday, Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) lobbed the postmaster general a softball.

“What is the cost of a first-class postage stamp?” she asked.

“Fifty-five cents,” DeJoy said.

Then things got tricky. “What about to mail a postcard?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” DeJoy said.

Porter took the line of questioning one step further, asking DeJoy the cost of mailing a greeting card in a square envelope. DeJoy, grinning, said, “I’ll submit that I know very little about a postage stamp.”

DeJoy, a Republican Party megadonor, has served as the chief executive officer of the United States Postal Service for 70 days after a career in the private sector. His predecessor, Megan Brennan, worked for the USPS for about 28 years before she was appointed postmaster general, having started her career as a mail carrier in 1986. Her predecessor, Patrick R. Donahoe, worked for the Postal Service for 35 years.

Porter further revealed that DeJoy did not know how many people had voted by mail in the last presidential election. “I’m concerned about your understanding of this agency,” she said, “and I’m particularly concerned about it because you started taking very decisive action when you became postmaster general. You started directing the unplugging and destroying of machines, changing of employee procedures, and locking of collection boxes.”

In response to Porter’s questioning, DeJoy insisted that he was not responsible for the major operational changes Porter mentioned—changes that have apparently led to major mail delays. “If you did not order these actions to be taken, please tell the committee the name of who did,” Porter said.

DeJoy’s response? “I do not know.”

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