CAGW President Tom Schatz said, “The 2020 Delivering for America (DFA) plan was supposed to deliver a break-even year by 2023, but so far has delivered more than $25 billion in losses. Between 2012 and 2025, mail volume dropped by 51 billion, but spending increased by $10 billion. Instead of expanding the use of private sector processing facilities, the USPS is spending billions it doesn’t have on its own duplicative and wasteful processing centers. Now, the USPS is asking for tens of billions of dollars more to help pull itself out of its fiscal hole. Borrowing and spending more money will not resolve the USPS’s underlying issues.

“For the sake of households and businesses across the country, the Delivering for America plan must be halted and replaced with policies that will allow the USPS to revitalize its sagging fiscal outlook and continue to connect communities with affordable and efficient delivery of mail and packages. That would be something to celebrate along with the rest of the festivities for America’s 250th anniversary.

“For continuing to waste money and asking for tens of billions of dollars more instead of making the necessary reforms to fix its broken business model, the USPS was an easy choice for June Porker of the Month.”

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. For more than two decades, Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers and government officials who have shown a blatant disregard for the taxpayers.

“Postal employees perform an essential public service in every community,” said U.S. Attorney Wall. “They deserve to carry out their duties free from threats, intimidation, and violence.  While we are pleased with this conviction, the defendant’s actions are inexcusable and warranted an even harsher sentence. When a federal employee is assaulted while serving the public, this office will aggressively prosecute those responsible and seek sentences that reflect the seriousness of those crimes.”

On April 15, 2025, a United States Postal Service rural letter carrier was delivering mail and packages at an apartment complex in Livingston Parish when Gaspard confronted her over packages that had not yet been delivered. The evidence at trial established that what began as a verbal dispute quickly escalated into a violent assault.

Witnesses testified that Gaspard repeatedly confronted the mail carrier as she attempted to continue performing her delivery duties. During the encounter, Gaspard directed racially charged insults at the mail carrier, followed her through the apartment complex, physically grabbed her by the neck, and assaulted her for more than a minute, eventually lifting her and slamming her to the ground. The assault ended only after another resident intervened to help the mail carrier escape.

Gaspard was found guilty of this crime after a three-day jury trial in March 2026.

During sentencing, the Court also considered a victim impact statement submitted by the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association on behalf of approximately 130,000 rural letter carriers nationwide. The Association explained that violence against postal employees extends beyond the individual victim, undermining the safety of postal workers across the country and threatening the public’s ability to receive reliable mail service. The Association urged the Court to impose a sentence that reflected the seriousness of the offense, recognized the physical and emotional harm inflicted on the mail carrier, and deterred future acts of violence against postal employees performing their official duties.

U.S. Attorney Kurt L. Wall praised the work of the United States Postal Inspection Service and Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jamie A. Flowers, Jr. and Ellison C. Travis led the prosecution.

WATCH: USPS head says mail ballots could be withheld without voter rolls under proposed rule

6/24/26 – In a hearing before the Homeland Security Committee, U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin questioned and pressed Postmaster General David P. Steiner on the health of the U.S. Postal Service and the latest actions to limit the use of mail-in voting by the Trump Administration.

Dale Kennedy
Director
Product Classification
United States Postal Service
475 L’Enfant Plaza SW, Room 4446
Washington, D.C., 20260-5015

June 25, 2026

RE: Proposed rule amending the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) regarding the transmission of mail-in or absentee ballots for federal elections through the mail

Mr. Kennedy:

Please see the comments below from the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) regarding the proposed rule amending the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM), regarding the transmission of mail-in or absentee ballots for federal elections through the mail. This proposed rule, if enacted, would partially implement Executive Order 14399, Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections. This proposed rule strengthens chain-of-custody for mail-in ballots and improves processes for securing ballots. The America First Policy Institute appreciates the opportunity to comment on the United States Postal Service’s (USPS’s) proposed rule.

Introduction

Mail-in ballots have become a regular mechanism by which Americans make their voices heard in an election. Over the past few decades, rates of mail-in ballots have steadily increased, from under 10% in 1996 to over 30% in recent elections (with a temporary pandemic spike over 40% in 2020).1 Given that such a large subset of the American people choose to cast their ballots by mail, it is critical that the government entity tasked with ballot chain-of-custody from voter to election office has proper safeguards in place. Without these safeguards, it is nearly impossible to have absolute assurance that the will of the people is accurately transmitted into electoral outcomes.

Mail-In Ballot Vulnerabilities

Currently, multiple vulnerabilities in mail-in ballots could be remediated under this proposed rule. First, ballot envelope design is inconsistent across the 10,000+ jurisdictions that conduct federal elections.2 Some ballot envelopes are automation-compatible and some are not, leading to very different mechanisms of processing across jurisdictions. Some jurisdictions make election mail very clear, but in others, that identification is not as easy. Second, many jurisdictions mail ballots with no unique identifier linking the specific envelope to that specific voter. This can result in a ballot being lost, delayed, or misdirected with no way to detect it until the voter realizes—if the voter even realizes. Third, there is no federal-level mechanism for comparing the total ballots mailed to the total number returned. Discrepancies like the ones that the America First Policy Institute highlighted can occur with limited recourse to reconcile.3

The Proposed Rule Offers Real Solutions

This proposed rule introduces meaningful safeguards against vulnerabilities intrinsic to mail-in ballots. The use of the official Election Mail logo, automation-compatible envelope design, and uniquely serialized Intelligent Mail barcodes are all already outlined as best practices in USPS’s own Election Mail Kit 600 guide.4 This proposed rule ensures that all jurisdictions and all election administrators participating in federal elections adhere to the same baseline standard, rather than allowing discretionary adoption at the choice of the election administrator.

The requirement for uniquely serialized Intelligent Mail barcodes on both outbound and return ballot envelopes poses a clear benefit to voters. These barcodes allow ballots to be tracked as they move during the chain-of-custody process, giving election officials real-time information about the status of the ballot. Voters are also able to confirm that their ballot was received. The barcodes make it much more difficult to lose, delay, or fabricate a paper trail. Post-election audits depend on accurate election data. A barcode on every ballot showing its path from the voter’s hand to the election office is a huge step in data accuracy.

The provision for the creation of a mail-in and absentee participation list is also a meaningful solution to the issue of ballot tally reconciliation. It allows states to retain full control while providing them with a useful tool. The USPS is not determining voter eligibility. The list of mail-in and absentee voters creates a reconcilable record of how many ballots were mailed vs. how many were returned, which can then be compared to state data. The more checks and balances are introduced into data reconciliation, the more accurate the result will be.

Finally, this proposed rule improves internal USPS operations. Automation-compatible ballot envelopes will reduce manual handling and processing errors. The Election Mail logo will help postal workers quickly identify and prioritize ballots over regular mail. Standardizing envelope design and making election mail clearly recognizable will simplify the training that postal employees handling election mail receive. These are all great improvements and help the American people to trust that their ballots are in good hands.

Conclusion

This proposed rule is reasonable, practical, and impactful, introducing a sound framework to bring federal election mail up to speed with the capabilities of the 21st century. In a world where anyone can swipe a credit card and receive instant confirmation, it’s important that election mail is subjected to the best possible processes, encouraging accountability and transparency at every step of the way. The proposed rule’s core provisions are the kind of commonsense safeguards that I have supported in my extensive career in election security policy. As the former Secretary of State in Ohio, I have run elections and handled mail-in ballots, chain-of-custody, and audit procedures. This proposed rule addresses real vulnerabilities in the current system while preserving state control of elections and partially implementing Executive Order 14399, which seeks to protect American elections. Voters in our country deserve to know that their ballots are counted as cast. This proposed rule moves voters closer to that reality.

The Hon. J. Kenneth Blackwell

Except the two men weren’t alone. The Federal Bureau of Investigation was listening. 

The FBI brought this complaint to our Office of Investigations. Our special agents stationed in Puerto Rico went to work with their partners to set up a sting operation at the post office where the employee worked and had access to an endless supply of incoming mail. 

During the operation, investigators saw the retail clerk remove a Priority Mail package from his station and set it apart. He waited some time for the pick-up to arrive, poking his head three times through a service door to make sure he hadn’t missed the man. When the person finally arrived, he handed the package to him. To avoid suspicion, he met up with him at an outside location days later to receive payment. 

Investigators intercepted the package and a K-9 officer signaled it likely contained narcotics. A test at the FBI lab proved the package held two bricks weighing over 2 kg. of cocaine — the white powder or “blanca” the employee knew to look for. 

After more evidence of the drug trafficking scheme was collected, our special agents and their partners arrested the employee. During a subsequent interview, they learned the employee had been breaking the law well into his 10-year career at one of the nation’s most trusted government agencies. Over time, he learned to visually and physically profile parcels suspected of containing illegal narcotics. It didn’t take long before he started diverting packages from the mailstream and selling them for profit. 

This February, the employee pleaded guilty to the three charges and was sentenced by a federal court to two and a half years’ imprisonment plus an additional four years of supervised release after he serves the time. 

Federal benefits advisor David Quiett warns that postal workers carry income protection risks that most employees don’t realize until it’s too late.

LOS ANGELES, CA, June 24, 2026 /24-7PressRelease/ — Most federal employees are surprised to learn that their benefits package does not include short-term disability coverage. For USPS employees, that gap runs even deeper. Unlike other federal workers, postal employees are excluded from the federal paid parental leave program, leaving them without two of the most common benefits available in the private sector.

“USPS employees often come to me thinking their benefits are similar to what other federal workers have,” said David Quiett, Federal Benefits Advisor at Federal Employee Insurance Benefits. “In reality, they’re working without a safety net that most people assume comes with a government job. When a pregnancy complication or a surgery keeps them out of work, there’s nothing to replace their paycheck.”

The 2022 Postal Service Reform Act moved USPS employees into their own health benefits program, the Postal Service Health Benefits (PSHB) program, separating them further from the broader federal benefits structure. While the law addressed health insurance continuity, it did nothing to close the income protection gaps postal workers face.

When a USPS employee cannot work due to illness, injury, surgery recovery, or pregnancy complications, their options are limited to sick leave, annual leave, and donated leave through the leave share program. Each of these has significant limitations:

Sick leave accrues at just 13 days per year, which can quickly disappear during a serious illness or a complicated pregnancy.

Paid parental leave is not available to USPS employees. While other federal workers receive 12 weeks of paid parental leave under the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act, USPS employees are excluded. A postal worker who needs time off before or after delivery must use whatever leave they have saved or go without pay.

Leave Without Pay (LWOP) is often the only option left once accrued leave runs out. LWOP preserves employment status, but provides no income, leaving employees to cover daily expenses, medical bills, and household costs on their own.

FERS Disability Retirement does not fill this gap. That program only applies to long-term, permanent conditions and requires a lengthy approval process. Short-term medical events, which are far more common, are not covered.

“A USPS employee who has a C-section, a complicated recovery, or a pregnancy that requires bed rest can end up weeks or months without income if they don’t have their own coverage in place,” Quiett said. “That’s a serious financial risk, and it’s one that’s easy to plan for ahead of time.”

The good news is that private short-term disability insurance is available to USPS employees, and can be purchased outside of the federal benefits system. These policies replace a portion of income when a temporary medical condition prevents someone from working, covering situations such as surgery recovery, serious illness, pregnancy complications, and non-work-related injuries.

Quiett advises postal employees to explore their options well before a medical event occurs. More information on short-term disability for USPS employees is available on the Federal Employee Insurance Benefits website.

USPS employees who want to review their coverage options can fill out a short form at federalemployeeinsurancebenefits.com/disability-insurance.

Office of the Inspector General is requesting first-hand accounts of poor mail service in South Dakota

Josh Hawley Grills USPS Nominees | Executive Bonuses Spark Heated Exchange

FRESNO, Calif. — 6/23/26 – Isaac James Ocejo, 22, of Fresno, was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston to 15 years and 10 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced.

According to court documents, between July 2023 and October 2024, Ocejo mailed several packages containing methamphetamine and fentanyl, through the U.S. Mail from post offices in Fresno to addresses in other states. In total, Ocejo and others shipped more than 10 kilograms of methamphetamine and more than a kilogram of fentanyl through the mail.

Ocejo and others also distributed significant quantities of methamphetamine in Fresno. In August 2024, Ocejo sold 10 pounds of methamphetamine to an individual in Fresno. The following month, Ocejo and co?defendant Isaac Estrada sold an additional 10 pounds to an individual at Trolley Creek Park in Fresno in broad daylight.

On Jan. 26, 2026, Ocejo pleaded guilty. Estrada pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and distributing methamphetamine in August 2025 and was sentenced to 46 months in prison on Nov. 7, 2025.

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Cody S. Chapple prosecuted the case.