Padilla, Luján Lead Colleagues Warning Against Trump’s Plan to Privatize Postal Service That Would Undermine Vote by Mail
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration and California’s former Secretary of State, and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), a senior member of the Senate Commerce Committee, led six Senators in expressing serious concerns about the harmful impacts to American voters of the Trump Administration’s plans to privatize the United States Postal Service (USPS) and move it under the control of the Department of Commerce. In their letter to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, the Senators emphasized that the move risks politicizing and imperiling vote by mail efforts across the nation, while violating the Postal Reauthorization Act.
“We write to express our grave concern over your statements and ongoing reports that the Trump Administration may soon attempt to bring the United States Postal Service (USPS) under the control of the Department of Commerce and potentially privatize services that are relied upon by millions of Americans,” wrote the Senators. “Not only would such a move violate the Postal Reauthorization Act and harm Americans in many ways, but it would also have a very negative impact on our democracy by disrupting and undermining public confidence in the handling of election mail. We strongly urge you to stop your deeply misguided pursuit of this effort immediately.”
Millions of Americans rely on vote by mail as a safe and trustworthy method to vote in federal and state elections, the Senators noted. In the 2024 general election cycle, USPS securely and efficiently delivered more than 99 million ballots to and from voters, including free mail delivery to rural and remote communities. President Trump’s own U.S. postal system task force found that a “comprehensive delivery network that covers every address in the country is a critical part of the nation’s infrastructure that cannot be replicated by private actors[.]”
“Privatizing the Postal Service would put our democracy in the hands of corporations that are more focused on efficiency and profit than the public good,” continued the Senators. “Bringing the Postal Service under the control of political appointees at the Department of Commerce and potentially private companies raises serious concerns that partisan and private actors would deprive eligible voters of the confidence that USPS will properly handle their ballot by disrupting the robust delivery routes that connect our country or by imposing a cost on ballot returns.”
In addition to Senators Padilla and Luján, the letter was also signed by Senators Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), and Mark Warner (D-Va.).
Senator Padilla has led the charge opposing President Trump and Republicans’ reckless attempts to restrict the right to vote. Earlier this month, Padilla issued a statement condemning the House passage of Republicans’ Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which threatens to disenfranchise millions of eligible American citizens. Padilla also warned Secretaries of State, Lieutenant Governors, and Chief Election Officials across the country of the devastating potential impacts of Republicans’ SAVE Act, concerns that have been echoed by top election officials across the country. Padilla also led 11 Senators in introducing the Defending America’s Future Elections Act to repeal Trump’s illegal anti-voter executive order and prevent the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing sensitive voter registration data and state records. Additionally, Padilla led 14 Democratic Senators in calling on Trump to revoke his illegal anti-voter executive order and issued a statement slamming the order when it was announced.
Full text of the letter is available here and below:
Dear Secretary Lutnick:
We write to express our grave concern over your statements and ongoing reports that the Trump Administration may soon attempt to bring the United States Postal Service (USPS) under the control of the Department of Commerce and potentially privatize services that are relied upon by millions of Americans. Not only would such a move violate the Postal Reauthorization Act and harm Americans in many ways, but it would also have a very negative impact on our democracy by disrupting and undermining public confidence in the handling of election mail. We strongly urge you to stop your deeply misguided pursuit of this effort immediately.
Vote by mail is a safe and trustworthy method that millions of Americans use to cast their ballots in federal and state elections. During the 2024 general election cycle alone, the Postal Service delivered over 99 million ballots to and from voters, according to the USPS’s December 2024 post-election report. Data from the most recent 2024 general election cycle makes clear that the Postal Service provides reliable mail delivery without any partisan influence, as Democrats, Republicans and Independents all continued to embrace vote by mail as a secure and convenient way to participate in our elections.
Privatizing the Postal Service would put our democracy in the hands of corporations that are more focused on efficiency and profit than the public good. The Postal Service provides free mail delivery to every address in the country, including rural and small communities that are hard to reach. President Trump’s Task Force on the United States Postal System concluded in its December 2018 report that the Postal Service’s “comprehensive delivery network that covers every address in the country is a critical part of the nation’s infrastructure that cannot be replicated by private actors[.]” Bringing the Postal Service under the control of political appointees at the Department of Commerce and potentially private companies raises serious concerns that partisan and private actors would deprive eligible voters of the confidence that USPS will properly handle their ballot by disrupting the robust delivery routes that connect our country or by imposing a cost on ballot returns.
Generations of Americans have grown up trusting and relying upon the Postal Service, which for decades has operated as an independent agency.
In addition to the myriad other harmful aspects of moving the USPS under the Department of Commerce and potentially privatizing it, we urge you to be especially mindful of this proposal’s effect on our democracy and cease all efforts to take political control over the Postal Service and the handling of Americans’ mail-in ballots.