Postal Updates

Senate approves two for USPS board of governors

May 20, 2021, 2 PM

By Bill McAllister, Washington Correspondent

Two of President Joe Biden’s nominees to the United States Postal Service’s board of governors have been confirmed by the Senate.

Biden’s third nominee, Anton Hajjar, a former lawyer for the American Postal Workers Union, was still awaiting Senate confirmation as of May 20.

Former Deputy Postmaster General Ronald Stroman and Amber McReynolds, a former Denver, Colo., elections official, won approval despite objections from a group of more than 30 Republicans. Stroman won approval May 12, and McReynolds was approved May 13.

One of the opponents, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., expressed concern that Biden’s appointments were not bipartisan.

Hajjar, a former union lawyer, has been cleared by the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, but his nomination to the board of governors remains on the Senate’s executive calendar.

The board has not had all nine presidentially appointed seats filled since Dec. 8, 2010, according to Postal Service spokesman David Partenheimer.

Senate Democrats, seeking to press for postal banking and other issues, had blocked President Barack Obama from filling the seats during his eight years as president.

Even when all nine governors are seated, the board’s majority will continue to be appointees of former President Donald Trump. Those appointees have indicated continued support for Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a major Republican Party financial supporter, whom they selected for the Postal Service’s top position last summer.

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