The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Pelosi says postmaster has no plans to restore mail cuts
WASHINGTON » House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s postmaster general has no intention of restoring mail equipment or funding overtime hours he cut, despite public outcry that operational changes are undermining service before the November election.
Pelosi, D-Calif., said she told Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in phone call that his decision to temporarily pause any further postal operations changes is “wholly insufficient and does not reverse damage already wreaked.”
She said DeJoy “frankly admitted that he had no intention of replacing the sorting machines, blue mailboxes and other key mail infrastructure that have been removed and that plans for adequate overtime, which is critical for the timely delivery of mail, are not in the works.”
Her statement comes as the Postal Service faced more questions and concerns and a federal lawsuit Wednesday over mail delivery disruptions after DeJoy’s abrupt decision to postpone any further changes until after the Nov. 3 election.
The delays have stunned Americans and led to warnings that Trump is trying to undermine the Postal Service before a surge of mailin ballots as voters avoid polling places during the coronavirus pandemic.
Civil and voting rights organizations said Wednesday they are suing to immediately return postal operations to normal.
“We never imagined that we would be in this position with one of the oldest and most trusted institutions in our country,” said Virginia Case of the League of Women Voters.
Case said there was no choice but to sue, even with the reversal by DeJoy on Tuesday. “The damage has been done,” she said. “We need guarantees in place that this will not happen again, prior to the election.”
At the White House, Trump’s team has insisted the president has no intention of disrupting mail delivery now or before Election Day.
But Trump leveled more attacks on absentee voting.
“IF YOU CAN PROTEST IN PERSON, YOU CAN VOTE IN PERSON!” the president tweeted.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, who spoke to DeJoy late Tuesday, asked for a written explanation of exactly what changes he was reversing.
Schumer, D-N.Y., called on the service’s board of governors to provide “answers on why Mr. DeJoy was selected” for the job.
DeJoy, who is set to testify Friday before senators, ignited an uproar over operational cutbacks and service changes he swiftly put in place since taking the helm in June. With mounting public pressure and a crush of state lawsuits, he hit pause Tuesday, saying he would hold off on any further changes until after the election.
Nonetheless, there are concerns that mail delivery of from routine goods and the millions of mailin ballots expected are still potentially at risk because of the changes pushed by DeJoy. Managers and workers have been let go, and mailboxes and machines have already been removed.
One initiative that DeJoy didn’t single out in his announcement was the newly imposed constraints on when mail can go out for delivery — a change postal workers have said is fueling delays.