WASHINGTON — President Trump revealed Friday that he’s considering merging the US Postal Service with the Commerce Department.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that his administration is looking at a “merger” of the two government institutions to increase efficiency.
“We want to have a post office that works well and doesn’t lose massive amounts of money, and we’re thinking about doing that, and will be a form of a merger, but it’ll remain the Postal Service, and I think it’ll operate a lot better than it has been over the years,” Trump said.
He had floated the consideration back in December after learning that the USPS lost $9.5 billion in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, according to the Washington Post. The astounding loss was up from $6.5 billion the previous year.
The Postal Service has blamed its increase in losses on a jump in worker compensation and pension liabilities.
A consolidation with Commerce would be a major change for the agency responsible for delivering mail across the country.
“It’s been just a tremendous loser for this country, tremendous amounts of money they’ve lost,” Trump told reporters of USPS.
“And we think we can do something that will be very good and keep it a very similar way, but whether it’s a merger or just using some of the very talented people that we have elsewhere, so it doesn’t lose so much, it’s losing a tremendous amount.”
The president didn’t reveal whether Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick might be in charge of the Postal Service if the change goes through.
The USPS dates back to the founding of America, with Benjamin Franklin serving as the first postmaster general.
Trump had proposed privatizing the Postal Service during his first term but faced congressional opposition.
Congress has the power to control the Postal Service under the Postal Clause in the Constitution, bringing into question whether Trump actually has the authority to completely dissolve the agency.
