PELOSI SEEKS VOTE ON USPS BILL

Oversight committee expects to hear from Postmaster General.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she is calling the House back into session to vote on bill prohibiting USPS from implementing any changes.

WASHINGTON — Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday she is calling the House back into session this week to vote on a bill prohibiting the U.S. Postal Service from implementing any changes to operations or level of service. The action comes amid growing concerns that the Trump White House is trying to undermine the agency during the coronavirus pandemic while states expand mail-in voting options.

In a letter to Democratic lawmakers Sunday evening, Pelosi also called on her colleagues to appear at a post office in their district on Tuesday for a coordinated news event. “In a time of a pandemic, the Postal Service is Election Central. Americans should not have to choose between their health and their vote,” she wrote.

Pelosi said House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer would soon announce the legislative schedule for the coming week. House Democrats were likely to discuss the schedule on a conference call on Monday and were expected to be in session next Saturday, a senior Democratic aide said on condition of anonymity because the plans were private.

Earlier Sunday, Democratic lawmakers demanded that leaders of the Postal Service testify at an emergency oversight hearing Aug. 24 on mail delays.

The House Oversight and Reform Committee said it wants to hear from new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and from the chair of the Postal Service board of governors, Robert “Mike” Duncan.

With heightened scrutiny of its operations, the agency is now requesting a temporary preelection rate increase, from mid-October through Christmas, although not for first-class letters.

The agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment about whether the two men would appear before the House committee. But it said Sunday it would stop removing its distinctive blue mailboxes through mid-November following complaints from customers and members of Congress that the collection boxes were being taken away.

“Given the recent customer concerns the Postal Service will postpone removing boxes for a period of 90 days while we evaluate our customers’ concerns,’’ said Postal Service spokeswoman Kimberly Frum.

DeJoy, a major Republican donor and ally of the president who took control of the agency in June, has pledged to modernize the money-losing agency to make it more efficient, and has eliminated most overtime for postal workers, imposed restrictions on transportation and reduced of the quantity and use of mail-processing equipment.

“The postmaster general and top Postal Service leadership must answer to the Congress and the American people as to why they are pushing these dangerous new policies that threaten to silence the voices of millions, just months before the election,” congressional Democrats said in a statement announcing the hearing.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is already taking heat just three months into the job.