Demings rips into Trump, DeJoy over USPS issues
U.S. Rep. Val Demings blasted the Trump administration’s handling of the U.S. Postal Service on Tuesday and urged the Republican-led Senate to take up the Democratic House’s $25 billion emergency funding bill.
President Trump and the postmaster general he appointed, Louis DeJoy, have come under fire for a perceived nationwide slowdown in mail service and the reported planned removal of 671 mail-sorting machines and an unknown number of mailboxes around the nation.
The slowdown comes as Trump has openly said he wouldn’t sign either the Democrats’ $25 billion emergency relief bill for the Postal Service or any COVID-19 relief bill that includes extra money for the Post Office to handle mail-in ballots, a practice he has derided even as he used it himself to vote in Florida.
“I’ve got to come out here and defend the United States Post Office, the oldest, most reliable and most trusted institution in the history of this nation. And you know why? Because we unfortunately have a president and a postmaster general who apparently just don’t get it,” said Demings, an Orlando Democrat.
Demings’ event outside the Kirkman Road Post Office west of Orlando came just minutes after DeJoy announced that the Postal Service would halt the controversial removal of processing equipment and mailboxes.
But DeJoy didn’t address whether any of the equipment and boxes already removed or turned off would be returned to service.
“He didn’t expect you to pay attention to that,” Demings said. “He’s saying that he’s not going to make any other changes. I’m not believing that until I see that. Because this administration has said a lot of things and done just the opposite. So the boxes that have been removed, they should be rebuilt. Let’s see if he says that.”
And, she added, “As a matter of fact, when he appears before the [House] Oversight Committee on Monday, we’ll ask him that question.”
Speakers at the event said the Postal Service was needed to provide rural deliveries, prescription medications and official legal notices.
“My mother relies on the Postal Service to receive her medications that are keeping her alive at 84 years old,” said Orlando attorney Barbara Stage. “I have heard from numerous other people that their cancer medicines aren’t being delivered on time. I just find that atrocious.’’
Shane Ulbin, a union chair with the Florida State Association of Letter Carriers, said he’s been told processing machines at the Lake Mary and Tradeport Drive facilities have been turned off with plans for removal.
“They haven’t been moved yet, but they’ve been shut down,” Ulbin said. “And that’s causing more overtime for the carriers and some clerks are walking around looking for work. It makes no sense.”