Postal Service braces for potential takeover by Commerce Department
President Donald Trump said Friday that his new commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, “will be looking” at the U.S. Postal Service.
WASHINGTON — The Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service is bracing for an attempted takeover by the Trump administration and has retained outside counsel to fight any executive order to that effect, according to two sources with knowledge of the board’s plans.
The board’s nine members, who are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, held an emergency meeting after the Senate confirmed Howard Lutnick for commerce secretary on Wednesday, the sources said. In December, Lutnick first discussed his plans with President Donald Trump to dissolve USPS leadership and fold the agency into the Department of Commerce, according to one of the sources.
No executive orders targeting the Postal Service are in the works, according to two White House officials, though they acknowledged there have been talks about ways to make it more efficient along with the rest of the federal government.
The Washington Post first reported a potential takeover of the USPS.
Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick in the Oval Office of the White House on Feb. 3.Evan Vucci / AP fileIn the Oval Office, during Lutnick’s swearing-in ceremony Friday, Trump revealed that his new commerce secretary “will be looking” at the USPS.
Rating: 5