House Democratic leaders are lining up behind a White House push to allocate $8 billion in taxpayer funding for the latest iteration of mail truck, paving the way for a fully electric fleet instead of the piecemeal strategy that U.S. Postal Service leaders have been pursuing.
The agency, which is generally self-sustaining and does not draw public money, has drawn up a bootstrap plan for new vehicles -- the vast majority of which would run on gas -- as it wrestles with $188.4 billion in liabilities and faces years of projected losses. The lawmakers' plan would relieve the agency of the truck expense while significantly advancing one of President Joe Biden's key sustainability objectives.
Last week, the chairmen of the House committees on Oversight and Reform and on Transportation urged members of the Democratic caucus to support the Next Generation Delivery Vehicle program, which would allow the agency to purchase as many as 165,000 trucks in the next decade. But it would come with certain environmental stipulations.
Party leaders had shown little enthusiasm for the program as outlined by the agency, which in February tapped Oshkosh Defense to build the trucks. But postal officials' plan, worth as much as $6 billion, called for only 10 percent of the vehicles to be electric -- exasperating Democrats, given the administration's sustainability aims. The remaining trucks would have internal-combustion engines that could be retrofitted with electric drivetrains later in their life spans.
But Postmaster General Louis DeJoy had told lawmakers the agency couldn't afford to make a bigger electric-vehicle commitment -- charging stations and other infrastructure would add another $2 billion to the cost -- or to wait until it could. The agency's aging Long Life Vehicles are barely getting by, and some have even burst into flames. Plus, the Postal Service has a history of skepticism toward electric vehicles because of the length of the procurement process. When agency leaders took the first steps toward purchasing new vehicles seven years ago, the concept of having 100,000-plus electric vehicles was unrealistic.
Committee chairmen Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., of Oversight and Reform and Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., of Transportation are now aiming to provide the full $8 billion for the electric trucks and the infrastructure. Though the dollar amount could get whittled down in negotiations with the Senate, momentum is building for their plan, according to a draft letter that House Democrats plan to send Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post. More than 50 Democrats have signed on.
"To ensure that any federal funding appropriated to the Postal Service for fleet acquisition is used appropriately, we would also include a requirement in legislation that at least 75% of the Postal Service's new fleet must be electric or zero-emission," the letter says. "Further, we would require the Postal Service to acquire only electric or zero-emission vehicles after 2040."
STRANGE ALLIANCE
Such an agreement would set up a once-improbable scenario: Democrats and DeJoy in alliance on postal strategy, one that would play well with environmental activists, commercial mailers and package shippers.
"The Postal Service has one of the largest vehicle fleets in the world, but far too many postal vehicles are outdated, guzzle gas, and pose a risk to the dedicated Postal Service employees who use them to serve the public every day," Maloney said in a statement.
"As the Postal Service replaces its aging fleet, it is critical that it purchases electric vehicles to protect our planet. The Postal Service can be at the forefront of electric vehicle technology and set an example for the country and the world, but it needs funding to purchase the necessary vehicles and infrastructure," Maloney said. "The Postal Service needs our help to electrify its fleet, and it needs it soon."
Such a turnabout also would mark a profound shift in the party's approach to DeJoy: Scores of House Democrats -- including Maloney and DeFazio -- have called for the postal chief's removal over historically poor mail service since he took office in June 2020, and agency missteps before the 2020 election.
That imbroglio has made party leaders slow to trust DeJoy and reticent to offer support to the agency while he remains in charge. After DeJoy told Maloney's committee in February that only a sliver of the new fleet would be electric, Democrats were angry and confused, according to aides involved with postal policy, who spoke on condition of anonymity to talk candidly.
Within weeks, top House Democrats began discussing funding the entirety of the truck program themselves, with stipulations on electrification, putting the mail service in line with its shipping industry competitors and even major automakers. Amazon and FedEx both promise to be carbon-neutral by 2040. General Motors has pledged to stop producing gasoline-powered passenger vehicles by 2035, and Ford has set aside $22 billion for electric vehicle development over the next four years.
That the Postal Service has made no such commitment -- the agency said in a statement that its "objectives align" with Biden's Jan. 27 executive order -- angered appropriators, according to six congressional officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations. Lawmakers viewed that as emblematic of the agency's go-it-alone style since DeJoy, a former logistics executive and GOP fundraiser, took office last summer.
"The Postal Service fully supports the deployment of electric technology in our delivery fleet," agency spokesman David Partenheimer said in a statement. "The ultimate extent of our ability to purchase electric vehicles is dependent on congressional financial support. With that support, we have confirmed that we can deploy a majority of our delivery fleet as [battery electric vehicles] by 2030."
POST HASTE
But Postal Service leaders have long been wary of the technology, according to current and former agency officials and industry executives involved in the fleet program, because of skepticism over its reliability as well as the higher upfront costs. Some of those tensions could be ameliorated by the prospect of forthcoming funds.
"The Postal Service doesn't have the cash to do this right now at all," said a Senate aide involved in postal policy. "If Congress has specific ideas about what these vehicles should be, they should step up to the plate and fund it. They have to operate right now like Congress will do nothing. They have to start replacing the fleet."
The Postal Service has not made a profit since 2006, losing $9.2 billion in 2020 alone, leading to years of deep cutbacks in infrastructure spending. That's partially why postal leaders prioritized the lower upfront costs of its chosen vehicle over the larger savings that electric vehicles will take years to realize.
The agency also needs to act soon, experts say, given the rapid pace of deterioration of the current fleet.
The vehicle procurement, six former agency officials and industry insiders said, picked up momentum during the latter half of Donald Trump's presidency. The Postal Service's bipartisan but Trump-appointed governing board was aware, the people said, of constant overtures from the White House to award the contract so Trump could announce it while he campaigned for reelection.
But funding remained a sticking point. The board's then-chairman, Robert Duncan, floated making a direct appeal to Trump to secure funding, said one person with knowledge of the conversation. Duncan half-jokingly suggested allowing Trump to design the exterior of the new vehicles -- much like his design push for Air Force One -- if he pressed Congress to set aside money to pay for them, but it's unclear whether officials ever seriously pressed the proposal.
Duncan did not respond to a request for comment. Partenheimer said the agency would not "acknowledge speculation or hearsay about internal conversations that may or may not have happened."
Postal officials told lawmakers in recent weeks that a $400 million grant would provide for 10 percent electrification, and $5.4 billion would provide for half the fleet. Full electrification would cost $8 billion.