WASHINGTON DC – U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) joined colleagues in a letter to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick expressing serious concerns about the harmful impacts of the Trump Administration’s plans to privatize the United States Postal Service (USPS) and move it under the control of the Department of Commerce. In their letter, the Senators emphasized that the move risks politicizing and imperiling vote-by-mail efforts nationwide, while also violating the Postal Reauthorization Act.
“We write to express our grave concern over your statements and ongoing reports that the Trump Administration may soon attempt to bring the United States Postal Service (USPS) under the control of the Department of Commerce and potentially privatize services that are relied upon by millions of Americans,” wrote the Senators. “Not only would such a move violate the Postal Reauthorization Act and harm Americans in many ways, but it would also have a very negative impact on our democracy by disrupting and undermining public confidence in the handling of election mail. We strongly urge you to stop your deeply misguided pursuit of this effort immediately.”
“Privatizing the Postal Service would put our democracy in the hands of corporations that are more focused on efficiency and profit than the public good,” they continued. “Bringing the Postal Service under the control of political appointees at the Department of Commerce and potentially private companies raises serious concerns that partisan and private actors would deprive eligible voters of the confidence that USPS will properly handle their ballot by disrupting the robust delivery routes that connect our country or by imposing a cost on ballot returns.”
The full letter can be found HERE.
Millions of Americans rely on vote-by-mail as a safe and trustworthy method to vote in federal and state elections, the Senators noted. In the 2024 general election cycle, USPS securely and efficiently delivered more than 99 million ballots to and from voters, including free mail delivery to rural and remote communities. President Trump’s own U.S. postal system task force found that a “comprehensive delivery network that covers every address in the country is a critical part of the nation’s infrastructure that private actors cannot replicate [.]”
Senator Rosen has been leading the effort to protect local postal operations in Nevada. Last year, she announced that she successfully pushed USPS to keep local letter mail processing operations in Reno, following a misguided plan to move operations to Sacramento, California.
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