Members of the House Oversight Committee blasted the head of the U.S. Postal Service over delivery issues, theft issues and budget woes.
One heated exchange with a Republican lawmaker ended with the Postmaster General covering his ears as he was strongly criticized.
Rep. Rich McCormick blasted Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and claimed he had destroyed any confidence in the postal system.
McCormick was incensed that DeJoy gave himself an “A” for on-time delivery.
“You can’t give yourself an “A” McCormick chided him.
“I just did,” DeJoy responded.
“You can’t grade your own paper sir,” McCormick shot back. “You are graded by the United States people and they don’t use your service anymore.”
After the Georgia lawmaker blamed DeJoy for bankrupting the postal system, the Postmaster General tried to shift the blame to Congress.
“I’m trying to fix the postal service,” DeJoy forcefully said.
When McCormick continued his attack, DeJoy blurted out, “You’re talking to yourself” and put his hand up to his ears as if to block the criticism.
McCormick mockingly reacted, “I hope you got that on camera. This is the response that the postmaster just gave Congress when he doesn’t like what he hears, literally covered his ears and gave himself the grade of A.”
Earlier in the hearing DeJoy said he has been working to turn around the postal service but “I can’t do this by myself.”
When asked if he regretted anything he had done, including claiming that the agency would stop losing money by 2024, he agreed.
“There’s a lot of things I regret,” DeJoy said.
DeJoy has had a contentious relationship with Congress since taking over the struggling agency. Congress grilled him in 2020 after he pulled high-speed mail sorting machines from facilities.
He is in the midst of a 10-year, $40 billion overhaul of the mail service but the results have been mixed.
In September the U.S. Postal Service announced that new electric vehicles would replace its aging delivery fleet.
At Tuesday’s hearing, DeJoy said the vehicles would be money-savers, but only until the batteries needed to be replaced.
