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Senate Republicans cannot force the U.S. Postal Service to scrap thousands of electric vehicles and charging equipment in a massive tax and budget bill, the Senate parliamentarian said late on Sunday.

The U.S. Postal Service currently has 7,200 electric vehicles, made up of Ford e-Transit vehicles and specially built Next Generation Delivery Vehicles built by Oshkosh Defense.

USPS warned on June 13 that scrapping the electric vehicles would cost it $1.5 billion, including $1 billion to replace its current fleet of EVs and $500 million in EV infrastructure rendered useless and "seriously cripple our ability to replace an aging and obsolete delivery fleet."

Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, whose role is to ensure lawmakers follow proper legislative procedure, said a provision to force the sale could not be approved via a simple majority vote in the Republican-controlled chamber and will instead need a 60-vote supermajority, according to Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee.

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[-] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 11 points 23 hours ago

Now watch them fire the parliamentarian like democrats were unwilling to do because they didn't want to raise the minimum wage.

[-] TimLovesTech@badatbeing.social 118 points 1 day ago

Sure, why not take a 1.5 billion dollar hit just to own the libs. These people are not serious people, and we should stop treating them as if they are.

With nonsense like this Dems should call a press conference outside and explain that Republican voters will be purchasing the USPS a new fleet, for no other reason than because their elected officials think they should.

[-] SnotFlickerman 80 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

They literally spent the last 10 fucking years getting these replacements ready to replace the aging fleet.

Also, it's not just a $1.5 billion dollar hit, there was and is a $6 billion dollar contract with Oshkosh Defense to build 165,000 of these, after going through a 6-year iteration process of bids and prototypes. This is throwing the baby out with the bathwater for no discernible reason and at an extremely high cost just to force USPS mail carrier to be locked into an ancient, aging fleet of vehicles. And I don't think a defense giant like Oshkosh isn't just going to sue the shit out of the government for damages for cancelling a contract if it hasn't been fulfilled already.

It sounds like just one more way to try to kill the USPS because if all their vehicles keep breaking down, they won't be able to do their jobs.

Fiscal conservatives, my ass. Most wasteful sonsabitches alive.

[-] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 3 points 19 hours ago

Conservatism, since its very conception, was always a reactionary movement. It just somehow became synonymous with the cool kind of individualism and traditionalism.

[-] wetbeardhairs@lemmy.dbzer0.com 32 points 1 day ago

Oshkosh would probably win a large amount of the original contract price without even having to produce. So it's a corporate handout at our expense.

[-] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 day ago

I actually don't think they would, the contracts would have all sorts of government clauses to allow for cancellation given funding conditions. So if Congress claws back the funds for it, then they would only be paid what they delivered so far. Contracting with the government, while lucrative, can also be a risk.

[-] Soapbox@lemmy.zip 11 points 1 day ago

I don't even think "owning the libs" is the primary goal for them. The republicans and libertarians despise public institutions. They want everything to be privatized. They cannot stand that an oligarch is not profiting from the service the USPS provides.

They are constantly trying to undermine the USPS to make it struggle so they can point and say, "Look! Look! See! Government services are bad! We must cut this wasteful spending and outsource mail delivery to Amazon Mail™ "

[-] wise_pancake@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 day ago

I don’t think they’ll purchase a new fleet

I see a cash bonus to leadership and then calling to shut down USPS.

[-] SnotFlickerman 8 points 1 day ago

I mean, considering the process for getting this fleet started in 2015, it would be 2035 before a new fleet would be rolling out... so yeah, they'll just call to shut down USPS

[-] SnotFlickerman 75 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

The USPS literally just got these, and they're replacing the way-past-end-of-life former fleet of USPS vehicles. These things are so recent that I have a post about them in my post history and I've only been here since October 2023, not even two full years.

Getting rid of them is literally forcing USPS to use old, broken, difficult to maintain due to age vehicles. These replacements have been in the works for ten fucking years and there's a $6 billion contract with Oshkosh Defense to build 165,000 of them.

Further, the old vehicles are missing a huge boon to mail carriers: air conditioning.

Like so many things, it seems like the cruelty is the point. It's not just that they hate EVs, they hate mail carriers having modernized vehicles that are in working condition and climate controlled so they're not sweating their asses off in the summer and freezing their asses off in the winter.

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 41 points 1 day ago

Knee-capping the Postal Service is a feature, not a bug.

[-] SnotFlickerman 21 points 1 day ago

True, making them rely on vehicles that are failing will reduce the ability for the USPS to effectively do its job and give them another reason to say we need to privatize it.

[-] entwine413@lemm.ee 35 points 1 day ago

Not to mention that EVs are the ideal vehicle for having to drive slowly and make a ton of stops. That shit is rough on an ICE and costs a fuck ton of fuel.

[-] PineRune@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago

They hate USPS and want to see it fail so they can privatize it for profit.

[-] lka1988@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 day ago

Getting rid of them is literally forcing USPS to use old, broken, difficult to maintain due to age vehicles.

Something tells me that this may be the point.

[-] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 1 day ago

Guess she got an inflated sense of her own influence when the Dem leadership used her as an excuse to not raise the minimum wage a few years ago.

The Parliamentarian of the United States Senate is a purely advisory role.

To expect fascists to follow procedure to the detriment of their agenda when nobody is forcing them to is peak Neoliberal delusion.

[-] Mbourgon@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago

Watch them fire the parliamentarian and find a new one who will say yes. They’ve done this shit before.

[-] Buelldozer@lemmy.today 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

The current Senate Parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, was appointed by Harry Reid in 2012. The previous Parliamentarian, Alan Frumin, retired after having held the position twice (once appointed by Democrats and the second time by Republicans).

The last Parliamentarian who was "fired" was Robert Dove and like Alan Frumin he held the position twice. He was fired by Democrats in 1987, then brought back by Republicans in 95 then fired by Republicans in 2001.

Senate Parliamentarians don't get "fired" very often, both parties seem to do it at about the same rate, and even when they are "fired" (demoted really) they tend to boomerang back into the position after a few years. There's only been 6 of them since the role was established in 1935.

[-] Mbourgon@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Aha! Here it is:

​ May 7, 2001

Senate Parliamentarian Robert Dove, the official responsible for enforcing the chamber's rules and procedures, has been asked to leave his post after a dispute with the Republican leadership, Senate sources said yesterday.

Dove angered Republicans, especially Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), with at least two recent rulings that effectively made it harder for the GOP to push President Bush's budget and tax cut proposals through the evenly divided body

[-] Mbourgon@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Thank you! I remember hearing that, during one of the budget reconciliations, the parliamentarian had denied that they could do and so they replaced that person.

Ah, yes, Rafael Cruz, you miserable SOB: “Sen. "Ted Cruz" commented MacDonough should be fired or ignored”

[-] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 18 points 1 day ago

Yeah Republicans, you can't put this provision through the budgetary process...

You have to pass it using the "incredibly unhelpful and stupidly evil" lawmaking process. Then Democrats will have your back.

[-] Gowron_Howard@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago

It’s woke to drive an EV unless it’s a swasticar. What’s next, replacing them with lifted dodge trucks?

[-] Archer@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Oh fuck this would be a great way for Elon to offload his unsold cybertrucks

[-] conicalscientist@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

I hope those things end up some where people will appreciate them. Knowing the republicans they'll probably sabotage every vehicle out of spite.

[-] burgerpocalyse@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

this will be the last time we hear about a parliamentarian

These fucking guys.

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 2 points 1 day ago

Can't wait for coal powered mail vans.

this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2025
469 points (100.0% liked)

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