Accusing President Donald Trump of trying to cripple the U.S. Postal Service in order to slow mail-in voting and ‘sabotage’ the November elections, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday she would call lawmakers back to Washington, D.C. later this week to vote on Postal Service legislation.
“The Postal Service is a pillar of our democracy,” Pelosi said in a Sunday letter to colleagues, arguing it is essential for “delivering prescriptions, Social Security checks, paychecks, tax returns and absentee ballots to millions of Americans, including in our most remote communities.”
“Alarmingly, across the nation, we see the devastating effects of the President’s campaign to sabotage the election by manipulating the Postal Service to disenfranchise voters,” Pelosi wrote.
The Speaker’s letter came several hours after the House Oversight Committee asked Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to appear at an emergency House hearing on August 24 to explain a series of operational changes which have delayed mail delivery, mailbox removal, and included the removal of mail sorting machines at facilities around the nation.
“Your testimony is particularly urgent given the troubling influx of reports of widespread delays at postal facilities across the country — as well as President Trump’s explicit admission last week that he has been blocking critical coronavirus funding for the Postal Service in order to impair mail-in voting efforts for the upcoming elections in November,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY).
Alarmingly, Postmaster General DeJoy has acted as an accomplice in the President’s effort to cheat the election and manipulate the Postal Service to deny eligible voters access to the ballot in pursuit of his own re-election. #DontMessWithUSPS
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) August 16, 2020
Days after the Postal Service warned states it could not be counted upon to timely deliver vote-by-mail and absentee ballots, Democrats said it was all part of a broader voter suppression plan by the President and Republicans.
“The Postmaster General and the Chairman of the Board of Governors have a lot of explaining to do,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA).
“I’ve already heard from multiple seniors and vets whose meds have been delayed and from even more people about this obvious attempt to sabotage the election,” said Rep. Josh Harder (D-CA).
“Trump admitted he doesn’t want people to vote by mail. More so, he’s actively working to weaken the US Postal Service,” said Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia (D-IL).
DeJoy had originally been scheduled to testify before Congress on September 17 - but Democrats were alarmed by the President’s public admission last week that his opposition to more money for the Postal Service meant it could not support any dramatic increase in mail-in balloting for November.
Trump this morning why he won’t fund US Postal Service. “Now they need that money in order to make the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots ... But if they don’t get those two items that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting.” pic.twitter.com/73NBmSnoNC
— The Recount (@therecount) August 13, 2020
Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. received more than 5,000 letters on Postal Service issues just in the past week. Sen. Gary Peters has received nearly 7,000 — more than 750 of them related to ballots. Sen. Jon Tester reported 3,000 USPS complaints. https://t.co/8hrTJBBXCc
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) August 16, 2020
While Democrats used social media over the weekend to highlight numerous stories of people with delayed prescriptions and raising questions about the elections, GOP lawmakers said little about the situation.
The House was originally scheduled to be out of session in coming weeks - but with the Coronavirus outbreak scrapping most activities related to the Democratic and Republican conventions, lawmakers could still meet to vote on any needed legislative items.
