VOTES IN THE U.S. HOUSE

Here’s how area House members voted during the legislative week ending Aug. 22. The Senate was in recess.

HR 8015: SHORING UP POSTAL SERVICE Voting 257 for and 150 against, the House on Saturday passed a bill that would prohibit the U.S. Postal Service from reducing service below levels in effect at the start of the year and require it to treat official election envelopes as first-class mail in this fall’s balloting. In addition, the bill would provide $25 billion requested by the Postal Service for coping with the coronavirus outbreak in the budget year starting Oct. 1.

Until the pandemic has run its course, the bill would prohibit the USPS from:

Delaying deliveries or increasing the volume of undelivered mail.

Closing or consolidating any post office or reducing the business hours.

Denying overtime pay to USPS employees. Watering down measurements of whether service standards are being achieved.

Lowering nationwide or regional service standards.

A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate. Yes: Brian Fitzpatrick, R-1st (Bucks, parts of Montgomery and Philadelphia); Madeleine Dean, D-4th (Montgomery, parts of Berks); Susan Wild, D-7th (Lehigh, Northampton, parts of Monroe); Matt Cartwright, D-8th, (most of Monroe).

Not voting (under quarantine): Dan

Meuser, R-9th, (Schuylkill, parts of Carbon and Berks)

CRIMINALIZING POSTAL WORKER INTERFERENCE

Voting 182 for and 223 against, the House on Saturday defeated a Republican motion to HR 8015 (above) stipulating it is a federal crime for any postal worker to tamper with election mail. The measure also sought to allocate funding in the bill to prioritize the delivery of prescription drugs, equipping mail personnel with protective gear and processing election ballots. A yes vote was to adopt the motion.

Yes: Fitzpatrick

No: Dean, Wild, Cartwright

Not voting: Meuser