Jon Ossoff introduces the Postmaster General Reform Act

ATLANTA — The U.S. postmaster general would be subject to term limits and Senate confirmation under legislation introduced Wednesday by Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga.

Ossoff has been highly critical of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy since reports surfaced earlier this year of months of delays in the delivery of mail processed at a new regional distribution center in Fulton County.

The senator said at a committee hearing in April that only 36 percent of incoming mail processed at the center was delivered on time, holding up prescriptions, delaying rent and mortgage payments and preventing businesses from shipping products or purchasing supplies. received in no time. timely manner.

“What we have seen in the state of Georgia over the past year is terrible performance,” Ossoff said Wednesday. “We need to hold the postmaster general accountable.”

The Postmaster General Reform Act would limit those who hold that office to two consecutive five-year terms. The Senate would hold confirmation hearings on the president’s nominee for postmaster general, both before his or her first term and between their first and second terms.

Postmaster General was a Cabinet position nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate until 1971, when the US Postal Service was transformed into an independent agency. Since then, the Postmaster General has been elected by the agency’s Board of Directors.

But Ossoff said the office is too important to be left to unelected officials.

“This is a job that has such an impact on our daily lives that elected representatives of the people need the opportunity to ask questions,” he said. “There needs to be a real job interview.”

DeJoy testified at the April hearing that the delays in mail processing and delivery in Georgia were the result of problems that arose last winter during the rollout of a restructuring plan aimed at making the Postal Service economically self-sufficient.

Shortly after the hearing, DeJoy put the restructuring plan on hold to give the Postal Service time to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it.

He also announced specific solutions for the Fulton County center in Palmetto, including bringing in more than 100 staff members from other centers and revising transportation schedules between the Palmetto facility and other local mail processing centers.

In June, DeJoy reported improvements in service, but Georgians continued to complain about delays in sending and receiving mail.