A Republican Senator Has Frozen Every One of Trump’s Postal Board Nominees Ten Weeks Before a Mail-Heavy Midterm — and Says He Will Not Lift the Hold Until Service Matches "the Days of the Pony Express"
Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota has placed a blanket hold on every one of President Trump's nominees to the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors, blocking floor confirmation of the entire slate. His grievance is service, not politics: first-class mail that is supposed to arrive in three days is taking closer to ten in South Dakota, veterans' prescriptions arrive late or not at all, and bills reach constituents on the day they are due. Rounds announced the holds on Aug. 12 alongside a bill to strip bonuses from USPS executives, and on Aug. 21 told the Postal Service he would release the hold only when service "returns to levels at least equal to the days of the Pony Express." By Aug. 28 USPS had told the South Dakota delegation it would upgrade its Sioux Falls facility, and Rounds's office said it was in talks with the White House. The hold lands on a slate that is already contested for a different reason. Trump has nominated only Republicans to a board that has been bipartisan by tradition, and in July the Homeland Security Committee's ranking Democrat, Gary Peters, asked Chairman Rand Paul to freeze the nominees until the administration puts forward Democratic names as well. Two nominees, Jeffrey Brodsky and William Gallo, were otherwise headed for a floor vote.
“First-class mail is supposed to be delivered in three days. It's taking closer to 10 for a lot of the mail in South Dakota.”