DOGE Lawmakers Fight to Defund Biden's $3B EV Postal Truck 'Boondoggle'

EXCLUSIVE: Two leading members of the DOGE Caucus have set their sights on clawing back $3 billion from President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. The hefty sum was earmarked for creating an electric vehicle (EV) fleet for the United States Postal Service (USPS), but the project is stalling so hard it might as well be parked permanently.

In case you missed it, a South Carolina defense contractor tasked with delivering 60,000 EVs is "far behind schedule." By last November, fewer than 100 vehicles had been delivered, according to a Washington Post investigation. That’s a far cry from the original plan of 50,000 vehicles within three years.

Senator Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who chairs the DOGE Caucus, and Representative Michael Cloud, R-Texas, are introducing the "Return to Sender Act." The goal? To snatch back about 30% of the funds allocated under Biden’s law, a law that was ironically labeled as an inflation fighter but seems to be inflating frustration instead.

To add insult to injury, the contract with Oshkosh, the defense contractor, reportedly ballooned the cost per EV truck to $77,692 for 28,000 vehicles. And get this: someone involved in the production admitted, "We don’t know how to build a damn truck." Well, that’s comforting.

Senator Ernst didn’t mince words: "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." Her USPS-inspired wordplay is almost entertaining, but the situation itself? Not so much.

Cloud echoed the sentiment, slamming the Inflation Reduction Act as a "misnomer" and criticizing the USPS EV project for delivering "nothing but delays, defective trucks, and skyrocketing costs." He pointed out that taxpayers, three years later, are still waiting for results while costs keep piling up. "The Return to Sender Act takes back the $3 billion in taxpayer money that has been wasted on this project," Cloud added.

Ironically, Oshkosh’s CEO told investors last October that the company is "really happy where we are" on the project. Maybe they’re thrilled with the payments rolling in, but USPS and taxpayers aren’t exactly throwing a party.

In February, Ernst highlighted this debacle in her Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act, which targets government projects that are at least $1 billion over budget or more than five years behind schedule. She’s clearly on a mission to make sure these missteps don’t keep flying under the radar.

The proposed Return to Sender Act is short and to the point, calling for rescinding the "unobligated balances" from the Inflation Reduction Act’s funding for the USPS EV project. Whether it passes or not, it’s certainly shining a spotlight on the intersection of government spending and accountability—or the lack thereof.