Governor secures reversal of U.S. Postal Service cuts

From Montana Governor’s Office

After filing a lawsuit against Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and the United States Postal Service for making unlawful changes to postal services that directly harmed the timeliness and reliability of mail in Montana, Gov. Steve Bullock announced Tuesday that the United States Postal Service agreed to reverse the changes.

“I’m pleased Postmaster General DeJoy has agreed to reverse the changes that were harmful to Montanans’ access to the mail,” Bullock said. “Montanans never gave up this fight and as a result, we are ensuring stability through and beyond the election by immediately restoring the mail services folks rely on, whether it’s receiving vital medication or ensuring they can pay their bills on time.”

Bullock cannot run for re-election due to term limits and is challenging U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., in Daines’s bid for a second term in the Senate.

The Postal Service agreed to reverse all the major policies it has made since June, including:

• Reducing retail hours,

• Removing collection boxes or mail sorting machines,

• Closing or consolidating mail processing facilities,

• Restricting late or extra trips to timely delivery mail,

• Banning or newly restricting overtime and

• Unduly limiting hiring for craft positions.

The agreement also requires the Postal Service to prioritize election mail and incorporates reporting requirements issued under all other courts.

Bullock filed a lawsuit in September challenging the policy changes that DeJoy began implementing, which Bullock said were designed to delay and obstruct the delivery of mail. The resulting delay impacted state communications with Montanans, medical prescriptions, payments, application materials for jobs and educational opportunities, important supplies for farming and ranching, and other communications, and threatened to interfere with Montanans’ ability to vote in the upcoming November election in the midst of a global pandemic.

Under the agreement, Governor Bullock can sue again if the USPS unlawfully makes changes to mail service in the future.