Willis testifies about changes to the u. S. Postal service and hes addressing the rise and assault postal workers. Oversight accountability subcommittee hearing is the first congressional appearance two years just over three hours. Good morning, the subcommittee on federal work will come to order and i would like to welcome everybody to this important meeting. May declare a recess at any time. We also have a number of members seeking to be weighed on todays hearing without objection, ms. Mays from South Carolina will committee on oversight accountability today. Also we have the gentleman from South Carolina and the Commerce Committee has asked to be part of this as well as the gentleman from california. The subcommittee of questioning todays hearing. Thank you. I recognize myself for making an Opening Statement let me welcome postmaster general, sometime last week we were preparing testimony and operational needs of the day and i found postmaster general im very thankful for the opportunity of the legislation passed last year on a bipartisan basis only signed by the president of United States. The plan that has goals and understanding and while there will be those who have issues and Ideas Service we believe the plan but hes responsible for will be held accountable to, not just by meeting for the subcommittee but also the full committee will. There will be people who provide them feedback but nonetheless may 2020, became our postmaster general and appreciate him for his service. His background running large operations because his ability to effectively grab this issue, it is important. He inherited a Postal Service that was 60 days from running out of cash in organization and desperate need of modernization. Since his arrival, hes taken that issue on. Obviously when youre doing this, you need a plan, a plan you are willing to tell people your part of, employees that you are part of and work with your employees and make it happen. Please send before this committee, hes been forthright of his desire to try and do the things not only in the Postal Services best interest but also the American People and we appreciate him being here. I think it is important to remember the Postal Service specific to economic forces about as much as any organization in this country stretching across the century, fuel prices, labor issues, the things growth and the changes in marketplace are all part of what this postmaster general as containing the delivery of mail which is the mission of the post office so a lot of things are not necessarily their fault but conditions that have to so i happened to see progress and express complements in not only postmaster general. Congressman connolly of this committee and chairman fitzpatrick a resolution honoring our Nations Public Service postal workers all across america even in our own Congressional Districts so that you are getting the government running all of you are workers your hard work and sacrifice do not find this committee of former chair continuously led efforts to acknowledge and appreciate our Public Servants and is a fierce defender ofthe federal workforce. Congressman connolly , i want to say to i know most of you join me in saying the attack on his staff earlier this week is weighing heavily on his mind and weighing heavily on the minds of all of us when we are democrats or republicans, we are all equally devastated by the senseless violence occurred and we are all praying for ecu mister dejoy, welcome back. The last time you were here we were all masked and though we had our differences in pastime before his old discussion through the pandemic baltimore maryland the worst ontime delivery in the nation by far. Now that mail delivery is improving maryland is experiencing the worst spikes in males particularly in festa, potomac and chevy chase maryland moreover the Us Postal Inspection Service report said robberies of postal carriers have increased by 78 percent resulting in nearly 500 robberies alone 2022 west i find absolutely amazing most of us grew up in an america where postal workers will not be wrong robberies of letter carriers are specifically we believe looking for one thing. The socalled arrow keys which grant access to mailboxes across the entire code associated with that this provides actors with ample opportunities to steal checks and read them, to withdraw access to lots of money from the victims for the mail recipients to other potential crimes so we are here for a number of things but were also here about this im concerned about the thousands of dollars a Single Family was a check gets stolen and often times is concerned about the cd of our postal carriers by senseless criminals who we have to find, prosecute and send off to jail to cut these costs, the Postal Service as i understand it increased its reliability on private sector to deliver mail the results for lack of a better term proven to be dont use this lightly the results often and fail in the past three years alone thirdparty Trucking Companies have been involved in 68 fatal crashes which cost the lives of 79 people we expect the Postal Service will job seriously to deliver mail securely and safely and yet it appears the Postal Service cannot guarantee following the safety of individuals and in some instances seems to have prioritized cost savings strategies of the cd that i just mentioned that people who have their lives these thirdparty carriers are postal carriers for speeding sure their employer which is you mister dejoy is focusing all resources necessary to ensure the safety of its carriers the timeliness of the mail that they are charged with delivering go Ranking Member raskin and myself send a letter to the postmaster general requesting the Postal Service is detailed response to this alarming threat we are all facing and particularly at 600,000 postal employees could possibly face for just doing their job so i would ask ask that we can submit this letter for the record. I look forward mister dejoy to all your responses the 10 year plan that we all had a lot of discourse and discussion around 54 million americans interested Postal Service to deliver just last year their Midterm Election balance visually on time for first class standards which is now classified within one to five days while the Postal Service has delivered 99 percent of mail in balance on time, were still concerned 640,000 arrived late and we think well over a 99 percent or 100 percent is the goal, i just know its a tough job want to commend in women with seriously because there was concern over whether those would be a as they should be congress that in to address the financial is the of the bipartisan postal reform to 25 two which fortunately provided significant Financial Relief to the Postal Service many archaic requirements to refund Postal ServiceRetiree Health benefits and moved most retirees into medicare. So theres a lot that we want to talk about mister dejoy. I want to in you for your testimony im looking forward to hearing more about those things and many of the things we in the may not be aware of the chair and i are also charged with conducting true and meaningful oversight to live in florida you overcome the challenges that you face by sharing with us as much as you can so that we might be partners in that process i want to thank the chair and yield back anytime i have remaining thank you very much, we do need to remember that today is about a man and women, the veterans, the people who are part of not just the Postal Service but also for the Postal Service and we remember our friends in the Capital Police who are providing us the cd we do with that said i like to yield to the gentleman that time he needs. The gentleman from virginia mister connolly is displaying the subcommittee for dylans readiness. Let me thank you and my friends for the heart comments. I just wanted to to thank all my colleagues on both sides of the. Ive been here 15 Years Experience the collapse of partisanship over a human issue. And i cant tell you how much i see that talking with Heidi Jeffries and Kevin Mccarthy talking with Steve Scalise and so many colleagues offering their support. One of the heroes in the story was the post man. Hecame to the office while the attack was going on. And it startled me to see it and that allowed the woman who was being beaten on the head to escape. And hes sort of an unsung hero in our story i just want to express gratitude colleagues on both sides of the for their consideration and very sympathetic response to what is a very difficult situation i appreciate it. Thank you and you know there are people on this committee who expressed sorrow for what happened but we also recognize mister dejoy one of your own capacity was the worst circumstance. Would it be inappropriate to offer a prayer of those colleagues that were injured, without the appropriate or not . Would wish to make a statement i will recognize the gentleman. My statements will be a prayer gear more we thank you for this body and thank the men and women are here as we ask you reviewing hands on these goals were injured rather connollys office and we ask the great physician that you are that you heal them in body soul and spirit in christ name i pray, amen. The german youll have to sign i went to before we welcome the postmaster general to acknowledge the chairman of the committee mister kohler, the gentleman from kentucky. Thank you for being here today and for your instructive nature that you began from the time you were a Ranking Member providing the confidence to the Postal Service we can work on these issues also that gentleman from maryland mister raskin i want to thank him for taking time to be here for this important time lewis dejoy was appointed postmaster general and chief executive officer of the u. S. Postal service in june 2020 prior to becoming husband will be added 35 years of experience managing a successful nationwide logistics company. Postmaster dejoy a room for a plan which is signed into law, a 10 year Improvement Plan i think to make the Postal Service sustainable without compromising its mission to deliver mail in molestation there are specific goals established at the church was aware of want to thank him for being here today pursuant to committee will 9g awareness will now please rise and raise their right hand mister dejoy, welcome. Do you solemnly swear for the testimony youre about to give is the truth, truth and nothing but the truth so you god . reflect the gentleman, this answer in the mister dejoy, we appreciate you being here and will forward to your testimony let me remindb you have read your written statement and it will appear in the folder in your testimony five minutes i assure you you will be here probably till 2 00 this afternoon to answer our questions on it is on as members can hear you ask that you would ask members to politely confine your comments to those things and then when the light comes back on we will ask that you ask those questions. I recognize the postmaster general angela is now recognized for five minutes. Thank you for your questions and Ranking Member, chairman comer, member raskin for a deliverance of the american plan i submitted as part of my written testimony i recently released to the fa progress reports which contains news on our progress since the fa that the sra implementation highlights simultaneously with transforming the organization we have improved our service, stabilized our force, expanded our capacity, to modernize our network and two years into a 10 year plan we didnt have Opportunity Financial losses. When i arrived here in june 2020 besides being in the middle of a pandemic and in a highly sensationalized clinical environment of financial operational and organizational tradition of the Postal Service has so deteriorated ability to serve the nation was in jeopardy perilous condition was the result of years of posturing, complacency , regulation, misplaced actions and interactions focused on narrow parochial interests failed to confront elizabeth evidence. This collective failure produce catastrophic consequences the organization then faced. Most surprisingly nowhere to be found was a comprehensive plan with the Postal Service on the right track for the future even though the alarms and bells and in writing one and a where these conditions when i accepted that commission offered by a board of governors who had a charge to fix the Postal Service so why are they bringing these conditions off now . I want to be sure we have our eyes wide open on the magnitude of the problem we need to fix, that we as the reasons why is we make this significant transformative changes are outlined in the plan that we remain diligent not to repeat those mistakes in the past. So how have we done so far and are in a difficult environment during the pandemic facing extreme demands for service by our operational growth i worked in tandem with my team and with the support of our board of governors to introduce a deliverance for plan that we all got working on. Today we are in a substantially better position for over two years ago we made Great Success pursuing the objectives of the plan and our whole organization is playing professional tactics that will improve our operation position, reduce our cost of performance, increase service land, grow our revenue to provide for yourhouse. I would like to highlight are as follows release of the plan service has been moved to near where 90 percent of the population received their mailing packages within three days firstclass mail takes an average of 2. 5 days from origin to destination the Postal Service has delivered on to successful season and work successfully with bovine ministration deliver 10 million tests to the american public. These operations demonstrate our ability to ramp up to meet regulatory needs of our nation for both personal purposes and in our government capacity and in response to the national and local emergencies as part of thecountrys critical infrastructure. We have to learn excellent performance on every election including the energized for the election which took place and in that regard we absolutely have fulfilled our role on multiple occasions as part of the nations doctoral process when election officials. We improved the quality of Career Prospects for our workforce by converting 125 thousand employees three years of fulltime and quality of their work advances to their workplace and how our employees so they can help us achieve success. And most importantly we are an organization with leadership and management at his playing ross and comprehensive strategies that will continue to sponsor our transforming our culture to one of these is to worldclass reforms and im out of the accomplishments of our Management Team and leaders and the women and men of the United StatesPostal Service im excited to continue our Work Together to finish what we have started to bring new life to our organization and tackle the remaining problems we have we continue to serve the American People another 15 years. Ranking member and members of the committee you for your support forward to answering your questions. Thank you very much. I believe your Opening Statement and conversations which you only had with not only all was in this subcommittee is important to note there are many of these factors that seemingly come in your purview that are difficult tasks but some that require personal attention and a continued part of your plan. It is not lost on any of us that there are Economic Conditions that indeed your ability to make changes but there also are daytoday operational issues which we believe need to be addressed. Today youre going to hear from members of Congress Bring to you and your team very specific examples of items. Ive had with the Congressional District i love these represent and in Travis County texas which is often for my entire service in texas and they seem to be around what would be friendly to our offer or the, these large effective for your service to handle may themselves a target. Can you provide me or this subcommittee with any insight into how you view these large mailboxes and im not sure what you call them but these large areas that then can be broken into and hundreds of packages can be stolen and then that correspondingly the need to have people in those areas have to go to the post office, stand in line and then have a replacement therein. This is part of a crime problem that you have to deal with. Sir, do you have anycomments that specifically . I do. Youre referring what we would call across the boxes which was signed in 2012 by