Congressmember Dan Donovan on Thursday, April 5 unveiled a new bill that would require the United States Postal Service to display official portraits of the president and vice president in all post offices, while at the same time reversing a “little-known” Postal Service regulation prohibiting such portraits from being hung.
Donovan was inspired by the pleas of a local constituent and Trump supporter who brought the issue to the pol’s attention, claiming that, while her Staten Island post office had pictures of former Presidents Barack Obama and George Bush on display during their administration, pictures of President Donald Trump and Vice President Michael Pence were never put up.
By making the portrait requirement uniform throughout all post offices, Donovan contends, the legislation will prevent any allegations of political bias in the future. If signed into law, the bill would also reverse a decades-old federal regulation that says “photographs of an incumbent or former President or Postmaster General are not to be displayed in post office lobbies or in public service areas such as elevator lobbies and corridors in facilities owned by or leased to the Postal Service.”
“First of all, the USPS rule is ridiculous,” he said. “When people go to the post office or any federal building, they expect to see pictures of their government leaders displayed. Second of all, it’s disturbing to hear anecdotal evidence that this rule was ignored for a very long time, and is only being enforced now because of who occupies the Oval Office.”
Donovan’s legislation will be introduced this week.