Here’s another waste of government money, this time it’s a $3B contract for 55,000 electric postal trucks — enough to replace a quarter of the USPS fleet — and big shock – only 93 vehicles have been delivered. But this seems to be par-for-the-course for any government EV initiative.
Now two prominent lawmakers are introducing the “Return to Sender Act” to rescind $3 billion allocated under the Biden administration’s “Inflation Reduction Act” — a 2022 law sold as an inflation fix but packed with green energy funding — for the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) electric vehicle (EV) initiative. This move comes amid concerns over production delays and escalating costs associated with the program.
Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Representative Michael Cloud (R-TX) are seeking to reclaim $3 billion earmarked for establishing an electric vehicle fleet for the United States Postal Service under former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. The two Republican lawmakers, members of the Congressional DOGE Caucus (Delivering Outstanding Government Efficiency) — a new group hunting government waste and overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency (also DOGE) — are set to introduce legislation to claw back the Biden-era funding.
Kamala Harris is admitting that the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that she often touted on the 2024 campaign trail is really just a backdoor enactment of the Green New Deal, which pushes for a massive shift to zero-emission transport. Harris, who cast the tie-breaking Senate vote for the IRA, now frames it as a step toward those goals.
The proposed legislation, known as the “Return to Sender Act,” comes in response to a reported delay in the delivery of the USPS electric vehicles. As of last November, only 93 out of a planned 60,000 vehicles had been delivered by defense contractor Oshkosh.
The contractor had an agreement with the Postal Service to produce an initial order of 50,000 electric delivery trucks over a three-year period that started in 2022, meaning they’re way behind schedule with less than 0.2% delivered by late 2024. Oshkosh, a Wisconsin-based defense giant known for military vehicles, won this contract in 2021 but is struggling to switch gears to mass-produce electric mail trucks.
Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), chair of the DOGE Caucus, criticized the program, stating, “Biden’s EV postal fleet is lost in the mail. The order needs to be canceled with the unspent money returned to sender, the taxpayers. I am defunding this billion-dollar boondoggle to stamp out waste in Washington. Tax dollars should always be treated with first-class priority.”
Representative Michael Cloud (R-TX) echoed these sentiments, highlighting that the Inflation Reduction Act has funneled billions into a USPS EV project that has delivered delays, defective trucks, and rising costs — reports suggest the price per truck has jumped from $55,000 to over $70,000. He advocates for reclaiming the $3 billion in taxpayer money allocated to the project.
Oshkosh is believed to be struggling with the production of the electric Postal Service vehicles, with insiders claiming the contractor is uncertain it can build the trucks effectively under the terms of the former Biden government’s contract. Furthermore, rising costs have compounded the project’s delays.
The Washington Post reported that Oshkosh’s CEO expressed satisfaction with the project’s status, stating the company is “really happy where we are.” However, internal sources revealed challenges, with one individual commenting, “We don’t know how to build a damn truck.”
The delay and production issues have prompted Ernst and Cloud to seek the re-appropriation of funds, approximately 30 percent of the total appropriation designed to tackle inflation under President Biden’s initiative. “The order needs to be canceled with the unspent money returned to sender, the taxpayers. I am defunding this billion-dollar boondoggle to stamp out waste in Washington,” Sen. Ernst said in a statement announcing the legislative measure aimed at clawing back the appropriation.
A USPS spokesperson defended the initiative, stating that fleet modernization is central to their “Delivering for America” plan — a 2021 strategy to revamp the struggling USPS with new tech and a greener fleet to meet federal emission cuts by 2030. They reiterated the commitment to environmentally sustainable vehicles, aligning with financial and operational considerations, and affirmed that deliveries of new vehicles remain on schedule.
As the “Return to Sender Act” progresses, it will serve as a focal point for discussions on fiscal responsibility and the role of oversight in government-funded initiatives. This fight isn’t just about mail trucks — it’s a test case for whether Biden-era green spending can survive a new wave of Republican oversight, especially with the 2026 midterms looming.
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