Staff Reports
Senator Josh Hawley has widened his oversight probe of the U.S. Postal Service to focus on the agency’s hiring of restructuring consultants Alvarez & Marsal after saying Postal leadership failed to hand over documents he requested. The move follows a heated Senate hearing where Hawley confronted Postmaster General and CEO David Steiner about dumped mail in St. Louis and the curious timing of executive bonuses.
Hawley demands answers — and receipts
The June hearing made plain why this flare-up matters: photos of thousands of missed letters, angry local customers, and a Postmaster General who laughed when asked why he took a six-figure bonus while deliveries failed. Hawley sent a June 30 letter demanding records about the St. Louis incident, possible criminal referrals, delivery standards, staff vacancies, and executive compensation. When the Postal Service failed to provide the documents by the deadline, Hawley expanded the probe to ask specifically who hired Alvarez & Marsal, how much they’ve been paid, and whether their work pushes cuts to rural delivery or closures of post offices.
Who’s paying Alvarez & Marsal — and to do what?
These questions aren’t academic. USPS projects multibillion-dollar losses and has already taken emergency steps to conserve cash. Yet the agency is hiring high-priced consultants and still paying big bonuses. Hawley wants the contract, the statement of work, and any recommendations that would trim delivery days or weaken rural service. If the consultants were hired to paper over budget holes by shrinking service, taxpayers and voters deserve to know that plan before Congress considers another bailout.
Accountability, not photo ops
This is about oversight. Hawley is threatening the kinds of actions any responsible lawmaker must consider: criminal referrals if mail was intentionally abandoned, public release of OIG audits, and subpoena power if voluntary compliance fails. Steiner keeps saying the Board of Governors controls bonuses, but waving your hands does not answer why executive pay is on time while Americans’ mail is not. The optics are terrible — and the optics matter in politics and in sound management.
What comes next
The Postal Service has until the agency’s new deadline to produce records about Alvarez & Marsal and the other items Hawley asked for. If the answers are clean and full, great — release them and restore confidence. If not, Congress should press harder, and taxpayers should demand transparency before writing another check. For now, Americans can watch the mail pile up and note one thing that still works: the bonuses showed up like clockwork.
