Stamp of approval given
Bill adds $25 billion, stops service changes
The U.S. House on Saturday passes legislation to prevent any further changes at the U.S. Postal Service and to provide $25 billion in funding ahead of a likely surge in mail-in ballots for the election.
The House of Representatives passed legislation Saturday to prevent any further changes at the U.S. Postal Service and to provide $25 billion in funding ahead of an expected surge in mail-in ballots in the November election.
The bill faces an uncertain future in the Republican-led Senate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told the Louisville Courier-Journal on Tuesday he was doubtful a bill only addressing the Postal Service could pass the Senate.
President Donald Trump, in a Saturday tweet, called the controversy over the Postal Service a “hoax” and told Republican lawmakers to vote against it, but over two dozen House Republicans joined all Democrats in voting for the bill. It passed by a 257-150 vote.
Democrats note that Postal Service officials have ordered the removal of mail-sorting machines, cut overtime for mail carriers, and made other controversial changes. Critics say that has slowed the delivery of prescription medicines and other items for veterans, seniors and other Americans who rely on the mail service as a lifeline.
The “delays we have all heard about are actually far worse” than the Postal Service had previously acknowledged, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., sponsor of the pending bill and House Oversight Committee chairwoman, said during
Saturday’s debate.
Her office later released documents from the Postal Service showing nationwide delays in mail delivery since the beginning of July, weeks after Louis DeJoy started his tenure as postmaster general. DeJoy, a GOP donor, was appointed to that job in mid-June by the agency’s board of governors.
“The American people do not want anyone messing with the Post Office and they certainly do not want it politicized,” Maloney said.
The Postal Service declined to comment on the release of documents. A spokesperson, David Partenheimer, said the postmaster general looked forward to testifying before the House Oversight Committee on Monday.
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the top Republican on the Oversight Committee said the bill would “simultaneously hamstring and bail out the Postal Service” based on a controversy played up for “political purposes.”
House Republican leaders told members to vote against what they called a “conspiracy theory bill,” but several Republican lawmakers still voted for it anyway, like Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., a cosponsor of the bill. And Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y., said in a statement Friday he would vote for the bill because “now is not the time to jeopardize USPS operations or delay services.”
The Senate remains out until after Labor Day, but a Senate panel held a hearing with DeJoy on Friday, where he acknowledged delays in mail delivery but steadfastly denied political motivations.