Horn endorses postal bill; Trump threatens veto
Democratic Rep. Kendra Horn said she expects to support a bill on Saturday rolling back recent operational changes at the U.S. Postal Service, while Republican Rep. Tom Cole said the legislation is based on“wild alle
gations” and was unnecessary.
Horn, D- Oklahoma City, said she had been contacted by postal workers, veterans, seniors and small businesses about delivery delays of critical mail and medicine and “what we're hearing is that
these changes and the impact are not routine.”
“These changes have been tied to the current delays,” Horn said in an interview on Friday.
The changes include reduction in overtime and the removal of some sorting machines and drop boxes, she said.
House members were called back to Washington by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to vote on a bill that would give the Postal Service an infusion of $25 billion and force the service to restore its operations to those in use at the beginning of the year. The bill would prohibit any operational changes for the rest of this calendar year or until the pandemic emergency ends.
At a meeting of the House Rules Committee on Friday to consider the bill, Cole, R-Moore, said Democrats seem to be concerned “that the Postal Service is somehow in danger of immediate collapse or that it is somehow in danger of not being able to deliver electionrelated mail, including ballots. Neither of these theories is accurate."
Cole said the Postal Service faces long-term challenges but has sufficient cash to operate well into next year. And he said Postmaster General Louis DeJoy “has repeatedly said that the Postal Service can and will meet its obligations with respect to delivering election mail. Despite wild allegations to the contrary, there is simply no basis in fact to support the stated reasons why this legislation is needed.”
Cole is the top Republican on the committee. House GOP leaders and many members have already come out against the Postal Service bill, but Democrats control t he House and are expected to have enough support to pass the legislation.
The Senate, controlled by Republicans, is not expected to take up the House bill.
Also on Friday, Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford quest i oned DeJoy during a hearing of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Responding to a question from Lank ford, a Republican, a bout t he removal of blue collection boxes, DeJoy said he committed this week to stop making changes.
“The day I put the statement out, we directed everybody to stop reducing postal hours, to stop bringing back collection boxes, stop shutting down machines, and that was basically what we did,” he said.
Lankford said earlier this week that Democrats' concerns about the Postal Service were political and aimed at hurting President Donald Trump, who has been a frequent critic of voting by mail and who said he didn't want to give the Postal Service more money because of his opposition.
The White House on Friday issued a veto threat of the bill, saying the Postal Service didn't need a $25 billion “bailout,” but did need reforms.
“This bill is an overreaction to sensationalized media reports that have made evidence-free accusations t hat USPS has undertaken reforms to achieve political rather than operational objectives,” the statement from the Office of Management and Budget said.
“USPS has not changed its service standards this year. And the reforms it has pursued have been the continuation of incremental reforms USPS has pursued under the leadership of three successive Postmaster Generals, each of whom was selected by an independent and bipartisan Board of Governors.”
The pandemic has led many more voters to cast ballots by mail, and that is expected to continue for the Nov. 3 election.
The Postal Service sent l ett ers t o most s t ates, including Oklahoma, last month, assessing their election deadlines in regard to mail-in ballots. The service said Oklahoma's law, which allows voters to request an absentee ballot a week before the election, may be too tight to guarantee ballots are delivered by the deadline, which is 7 p.m. on Election Day.
The Postal Service recommends voters mail their ballots at least a week before the election.
Horn said she agreed that voters should mail ballots by Oct. 27 for the Nov. 3 election.
She said the $25 billion provided in the House bill was the recommendation of the Postal Service's board, not House Democrats.
And she said the bill was necessary because postal workers “have been hampered in effective and timely delivery” because of the changes implemented this year.