Restoring service central to Biden's postal board nominees

President Joe Biden's nominees to the governing board of the U.S. Postal Service pledged Thursday to rebuild trust with the American public through prompt deliveries, as they outlined a vison for the agency in their first formal statements to lawmakers.

The nominees — Ron Stroman, a former deputy postmaster general; Amber McReynolds, who leads the nonprofit National Vote at Home Institute; and Anton Hajjar, the former general counsel of the American Postal Workers Union — made the remarks during their confirmation hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The panel did not immediately vote on the nominations.

The hearing marked the first step in a process that could reshape the board as Postmaster General Louis DeJoy pursues a controversial overhaul of mail operations following outrage last year over delivery slowdowns. If approved by the committee then the full Senate, the nominees would give Democrats and Democratic appointees a majority on the board.

The hearing was relatively tame compared to the combative spats that have characterized DeJoy's appearances on Capitol Hill since he took over the agency last year and since weathered several calls to step down. Under questioning, all three nominees said they have not faced any outside pressure to oust DeJoy, a major GOP donor, and instead focused on their plans to improve service and agency infrastructure.

"There is an enormous reservoir of goodwill among the people for the Postal Service. That has to be preserved, it cannot be squandered, it's the strength of the Postal Service," said Hajjar. “Service has to be job one.”

The nominations came after DeJoy and the board Chairman Ron Bloom, a Democrat, debuted a sweeping, 10-year strategic plan meant to stem a projected $160...