USPS controversy escalates
Democrats seek to block changes by administration
Congressional Democrats are urging the postmaster general to testify before a House committee as fears mount of postal delivery delays that could jeopardize voting by mail in November.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on the House to return into session later this week to vote on a bill that would prevent changes the Trump administration has made to the Postal Service, alterations Democrats say will cause a slowing of the flow of mail and potentially jeopardize the November election.
Pelosi, in a Sunday statement, said the “lives, livelihoods and the life of our American Democracy” are under threat from President Donald Trump, who last week said he opposed giving the Postal Service more money while at the same time acknowledging the lack of funding may hamper the office’s ability to process mail-in ballots.
Pelosi wants the House to vote later this week on Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s Delivering for America Act, which prohibits changes to Postal Service operations in place on Jan. 1, 2020.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to reconvene the Republican-controlled Senate to act on Maloney’s bill.
Pelosi did not specify when the House would return, but a senior Democratic aide said it’s likely lawmakers would vote Saturday.
Hours before Pelosi’s call to return to session, congressional Democrats urged the postmaster general to testify before a House committee nearly a month earlier than initially requested, saying the “urgent” hearing is needed to address “dangerous” changes made at the Postal Service.
In a joint statement, Pelosi, Maloney, Schumer and Sen. Gary Peters, the ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, called on Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and USPS Board of Governors Chairman Robert Duncan to address “sweeping and dangerous operational changes at the Postal Service that are slowing the mail and jeopardizing the integrity of the election.”
DeJoy was scheduled to testify before a House panel on Sept. 17, but Maloney, chairwoman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, said his testimony was “particularly urgent given the troubling influx of reports of widespread delays at postal facilities across the country.” The hearing is now scheduled for Aug. 24.
The Democrats said DeJoy and Duncan must explain “why they are pushing these dangerous new policies that threaten to silence the voices of millions, just months before the election.”
Congressional Democrats sent DeJoy a 10-page letter on Friday detailing the changes at the Postal Service they feared could delay the mail.
Among the shifts in service that worried them was a move to stop treating all election mail as first-class – which could mean a regular delay of up to eight days from prior elections – cutbacks in overtime and a ban on “late” or “extra” delivery trips.
An internal Postal Service document cited by the Democrats warned, “One aspect of these changes that may be difficult for employees is that – temporarily – we may see mail left behind or mail on the workroom floor.”
At a news conference Sunday in New York, Schumer argued delayed ballots were not the only consequence of delayed mail delivery.
“Imagine how a senior citizen feels when there’s life-dependent pills and they’re late. Lots people depend on the mail to get other necessities during COVID,” Schumer said, referring to the coronavirus pandemic. “To slow down the mail at any time is disgraceful, but to slow it down during COVID is despicable and hurts people.”
Pelosi’s request that lawmakers return to session comes after a testy few days over the Postal Service and whether it’s up to the test of handling an unprecedented number of mail-in ballots in the fall elections. The coronavirus outbreak has prompted many states to increase voters’ ability to vote by mail to reduce the crowds on Election Day and to provide an alternative to in-person voting for those at the greatest risk of exposure.
Some states have dropped rules that require a reason to request an absentee ballot, and others have expanded the length of early voting. And some have approved universal vote-by-mail, in which every registered voter is automatically sent an application or ballot.
On Friday, the Postal Service warned election officials around the country that even if ballots are requested ahead of state deadlines and mailed back quickly, some may not be delivered in time to be counted.
The concerns about the recent changes at the Postal Service come after months of Democratic efforts to secure additional funding to help the Postal Service survive the pandemic. Maloney, D-N.Y., warned the agency was facing bankruptcy in March, when Democrats sought billions of dollars to help states manage elections during the outbreak, before settling for $400 million in the CARES Act stimulus package.
But in the months since, Trump has expressed concerns that the drive for expanded vote-by-mail could lead to increased voter fraud, though experts say election fraud is rare and statistically insignificant.
Money to help the Postal Service endure the pandemic and prepare for the election have been one of the major sticking points in the stalled negotiations over a new stimulus package. The $3.4 trillion HEROES Act, which the Democratic-controlled House passed in May, included $25 billion for the Postal Service.
The White House has said the price tag of the Democratic stimulus package is too high and insisted the only way Republicans will agree to more Postal Service funding is if Democrats compromise on a more modest stimulus deal.
On Sunday, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Trump would sign a bill that included up to $25 billion for the Postal Service if Democrats would agree on a deal.
“If my Democrat friends are all upset about this, come back to Washington, D.C., where the president and I am right now,” Meadows said. “Let’s go ahead and get a stimulus check out to Americans.
Let’s make sure that small businesses are protected with an extended PPP program and put the postal funding in there.”
“We will pass it tomorrow. The president will sign it. And this will all go away,” he said.
Meadows also left the door open to a bill that would solely address Postal Service funding.
Trump sparked outrage last week when he said in a Fox Business Network interview that he opposes more money for the Postal Service while saying that without the money, the flood of mailed ballots would be unmanageable.
“They need that money in order to have the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots,” Trump said. “If they don’t get those two items, that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting because they’re not equipped to have it.”
The House Oversight hearing is scheduled ahead of the opening of the Republican National Convention that same evening. The Democratic leaders also urged Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, to hold hearings “as soon as next week.”
One move by USPS that had sparked concern was the removal of mail collection boxes, which was reported in several Western states. In response to concerns that the removals could hinder people’s ability to vote, a USPS spokesman told CNN they would stop the process in 16 Western states and parts of two others until after the election.
Another change that Democrats see as part of “the sabotage of the Postal Service” involves the reported removal of mail sorting machines from some post offices around the U.S.
Meadows told CNN Democrats are spinning a “narrative that’s not based on facts” and that the sorting machine removal is part of a “normal process of taking them” for “re-gearing.”
Meadows said he could “guarantee” that “the president of the United States is not going to interfere with anybody casting their vote in a legitimate way, whether it’s the post office or anything else.”
Trump’s chief of staff said all of the noted changes were about increasing “efficiency” at the Postal Service, which was in financial trouble long before the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S.