Why the hell hasn’t President Biden prioritized nominating new people to the Board, so the USPS can boot DeJoy? I’ve never seen a good reason or an explanation. That man is an ever-present threat to mail-in voting and democracy!
There are two vacancies on the USPS board of governors and one appointee, Anton Hajjar, serving past his term's expiration.
Both vacant seats have a nomination from Biden. One republican nominee and one democratic nominee — this isn't the craziness it sounds like at first, as the USPS board of governors is legally required to have no more than half+1 seats held by a single party.
The democratic nominee for a seat is Marty Walsh, former mayor of Boston and Secretary of Labor. He was nominated in February of this year... still no confirmation vote scheduled as best as I can tell.
For the republican vacant seat, Biden has renominated the former holder, but I don't know the dates for that.
Thank you for clarifying. Schumer is also dropping the ball on judicial confirmations.
As of September 12, there are 66 vacancies, 44 of which are current. There are now 32 pending nominees: 17 waiting for floor votes, 6 waiting to be reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and 9 waiting for hearings before the Committee.
Let me repeat that: 17 judicial nominees are just awaiting floor votes. Schumer ought to expedite those by filing far more clotures. There is no reason why each vote needs to take an hour or more; and there is no reason why Schumer can’t have the Senate putting in longer hours, working extra days, or forcing the Senate to stay in session for at least one week of the planned month-long October break.
The Senate confirmed only four judges this week. It’s irresponsible to assume Democrats will hold the Senate, leaving judgeships empty – at least judgeships not impacted by GOP senators withholding Blue Slips (which is a separate and contentious issue).
The Senate is responsible for confirmations by itself, so it doesn't have the dysfunction of the House as an excuse. If the election are fucked up because Schumer is spending more time begging constituents like me for money every day than making sure the mails run right...
So Feingold wants the Senate to get aggressive on judicial confirmations. Well, if not for his "I'm too good to go negative on my opponent or accept dirty PAC money" schtick, then they might have one more vote to do so...
I wish I knew more of the story of Russ Feingold’s campaign(s). Tragic that Ron Johnson was elected and re-elected. Imho, he’s one of the worst. Mandela Barnes came within a percentage point of unseating him; I really thought and hoped he would succeed.
In an alarming letter, the officials said that over the past year, including the just-concluded primary season, mailed ballots that were postmarked on time were received by local election offices days after the deadline to be counted. They also noted that properly addressed election mail was being returned to them as undeliverable, a problem that could automatically send voters to inactive status through no fault of their own, potentially creating chaos when those voters show up to cast a ballot.
The officials also said that repeated outreach to the Postal Service to resolve the issues had failed and that the widespread nature of the problems made it clear these were “not one-off mistakes or a problem with specific facilities. Instead, it demonstrates a pervasive lack of understanding and enforcement of USPS policies among its employees.”
The letter to U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy came from two groups that represent top election administrators in all 50 states. They told DeJoy, “We have not seen improvement or concerted efforts to remediate our concerns.”
“We implore you to take immediate and tangible corrective action to address the ongoing performance issues with USPS election mail service,” they added. "Failure to do so will risk limiting voter participation and trust in the election process."
Election Officials Warn Mail System Could Disrupt Voting https://politicalwire.com/2024/09/12/election-officials-warn-mails-system-could-disrupt-voting/
"the U.S. Postal Service that it hasn’t fixed persistent deficiencies"
Great! And somehow, after all this time, Trump's Postmaster General is still in there...
Apparently, there is one Democrat on the board that won’t support getting rid of him.
One or two?
At least one.
Why the hell hasn’t President Biden prioritized nominating new people to the Board, so the USPS can boot DeJoy? I’ve never seen a good reason or an explanation. That man is an ever-present threat to mail-in voting and democracy!
To be fair, he did ultimately nominate enough Democrats to oust him, but for some reason, they have chosen not to.
I thought additional replacement nominations were possible?
I thought they were all filled, but I don't know.
Filled, yes – but I thought some were serving past their time. Perhaps I remember wrong.
There are two vacancies on the USPS board of governors and one appointee, Anton Hajjar, serving past his term's expiration.
Both vacant seats have a nomination from Biden. One republican nominee and one democratic nominee — this isn't the craziness it sounds like at first, as the USPS board of governors is legally required to have no more than half+1 seats held by a single party.
The democratic nominee for a seat is Marty Walsh, former mayor of Boston and Secretary of Labor. He was nominated in February of this year... still no confirmation vote scheduled as best as I can tell.
For the republican vacant seat, Biden has renominated the former holder, but I don't know the dates for that.
Schumer is dropping the ball on this one.
Thank you for clarifying. Schumer is also dropping the ball on judicial confirmations.
As of September 12, there are 66 vacancies, 44 of which are current. There are now 32 pending nominees: 17 waiting for floor votes, 6 waiting to be reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and 9 waiting for hearings before the Committee.
Let me repeat that: 17 judicial nominees are just awaiting floor votes. Schumer ought to expedite those by filing far more clotures. There is no reason why each vote needs to take an hour or more; and there is no reason why Schumer can’t have the Senate putting in longer hours, working extra days, or forcing the Senate to stay in session for at least one week of the planned month-long October break.
The Senate confirmed only four judges this week. It’s irresponsible to assume Democrats will hold the Senate, leaving judgeships empty – at least judgeships not impacted by GOP senators withholding Blue Slips (which is a separate and contentious issue).
Other than the budget deal looming; Congress is basically shuttered; not saying this is good or bad
The Senate is responsible for confirmations by itself, so it doesn't have the dysfunction of the House as an excuse. If the election are fucked up because Schumer is spending more time begging constituents like me for money every day than making sure the mails run right...
Agreed; possibly Tester and Brown don't want any votes or as few as possible(pure speculation on my part)
Here is a timely article by former Senator Russ Feingold, President of the American Constitution Society (ACS).
"Senate Should Continue to Confirm Judges to Prevent September Slippage"
https://www.acslaw.org/inbrief/senate-should-continue-to-confirm-judges-to-prevent-september-slippage/
So Feingold wants the Senate to get aggressive on judicial confirmations. Well, if not for his "I'm too good to go negative on my opponent or accept dirty PAC money" schtick, then they might have one more vote to do so...
I wish I knew more of the story of Russ Feingold’s campaign(s). Tragic that Ron Johnson was elected and re-elected. Imho, he’s one of the worst. Mandela Barnes came within a percentage point of unseating him; I really thought and hoped he would succeed.
Further on this from an AP story run by Daily Kos, https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/9/12/2269788/-Election-officials-warn-widespread-problems-with-USPS-could-disrupt-voting?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_7&pm_medium=web:
In an alarming letter, the officials said that over the past year, including the just-concluded primary season, mailed ballots that were postmarked on time were received by local election offices days after the deadline to be counted. They also noted that properly addressed election mail was being returned to them as undeliverable, a problem that could automatically send voters to inactive status through no fault of their own, potentially creating chaos when those voters show up to cast a ballot.
The officials also said that repeated outreach to the Postal Service to resolve the issues had failed and that the widespread nature of the problems made it clear these were “not one-off mistakes or a problem with specific facilities. Instead, it demonstrates a pervasive lack of understanding and enforcement of USPS policies among its employees.”
The letter to U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy came from two groups that represent top election administrators in all 50 states. They told DeJoy, “We have not seen improvement or concerted efforts to remediate our concerns.”
“We implore you to take immediate and tangible corrective action to address the ongoing performance issues with USPS election mail service,” they added. "Failure to do so will risk limiting voter participation and trust in the election process."
Yes, DeJoy needs to be replaced ASAP.