'Poor service for years’: Hawley investigating USPS after spat with top official
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Sen. Josh Hawley launched an investigation into the USPS issues after June 24 hearing.
- Hawley demanded documents and communications about a discarded St. Louis mail pile.
- Hawley demanded records on delivery-time, executive bonuses, and consultant spending.
Sen. Josh Hawley announced he’s launching an investigation into the United States Postal Service in Missouri after a spat with the Postmaster General at a hearing last week.
In a letter sent to the Postmaster General David Steiner, Hawley said the investigation will focus on potential criminal activity related to the abandoned pile of mail, chronic mail service failures in Missouri and excessive bonuses to postal service executives.
“Missouri has been saddled with poor service for years,” Hawley wrote. “When I asked the Inspector General last year to audit the St. Louis distribution center, she told me it was the worst case of failed on-time delivery they had seen in field operations reviews.”
“Another recent audit for Kansas City found that there were nearly 100,000 delayed pieces of mail over a three-day inspection,” he said.
The investigation follows a contentious June 24 hearing, where the Republican Senator grilled Steiner over his lack of knowledge about a massive pile of discarded mail in North St. Louis City, his acceptance of a $305,781 bonus and lagging delivery times in Missouri.
Hawley suggested Steiner should resign if the issues aren’t solved.
The back-and-forth prompted Steiner to send a letter denying Hawley’s claims and chiding him for a lack of civility. On Tuesday, Hawley launched an investigation into issues in Missouri’s post offices.
Hawley demanded Steiner send documents and communications regarding the discarded pile of mail in St. Louis, as well as logistical records on delivery times in Missouri. He’s also seeking financial records on bonuses for USPS officials and information about how much money the agency spends on consultants.
He demanded Steiner supply the information he requested by July 15.
“You seem to operate under the misapprehension that you are entitled to some kind of special deference. In fact, it’s the people of Missouri that are entitled to something: you doing your job,” Hawley wrote.
Before Hawley announced the investigation, Steiner contested Hawley’s claims about postal service failures in Missouri. In a June 25 letter, he said that Hawley used old information about service delays, that the discarded mail was being investigated and admonished Hawley over his tone.
“On a personal note, I was raised in the South, and my mother taught me to treat all people with a respectful level of decorum. I will expect that level from you in any future interactions,” Steiner wrote.
A spokesperson for the USPS didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
