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Tong takes action on USPS reform efforts

During a Facebook conversation between state Rep. Maria Horn (D-64) and Connecticut Attorney General William Tong on Wednesday, Aug. 26, Tong said the Trump administration’s recent actions concerning the United States Postal Service (USPS) could be viewed as a constitutional crisis.

The administration, in the person of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, has been implementing a series of reforms it says are designed to increase the efficiency of the USPS.

There has been substantial pushback, not least from some 20 state attorneys general, including Tong, who have filed multiple lawsuits against the administration.

The USPS, Tong said, is not a business but a service.

And it is mandated by the Constitution.

Tong said the USPS “literally holds this country together.” He said that it’s not just about mail-in or absentee ballots, but about medications, school information and commerce.

When a president “uses the power of his office to undermine another federal function, what do you do about that?” he asked.

Tong said the Constitution is “one gigantic honor system.”  He described Congress and Washington, D.C., in general as “broken” by partisanship.

And in such a climate, “these fights devolve to the states.”

That’s why he and other states’ attorneys general filed suit against President Donald Trump, DeJoy and the USPS itself, to “undo the damage done” and to ensure the USPS will be ready for what is expected to be a unusually large number of absentee and mail-in ballots in the Nov. 3 general election.

Patrick L. Sullivan

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