Democratic leaders announced Sunday that they are planning an emergency shelter on August 24. For top U.S. Postal Service officials to testify before Congress, after the agency raised the alarm about its ability to handle increased mail-in voting.
“The President has explicitly stated his intention to manipulate the Postal Service to be eligible for voters’ access to the ballot in the run-up to his own re-election,” said the statement signed by Nancy Pelosi, a Member of Parliament, D-Calif., And Miniature Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., among others. “Alarmingly, the Postmaster General – a Trump mega-donor – has acted as an accomplice in the president’s campaign to cheat in the elections, as he launches sweeping new operational changes that lower delivery standards and the post delayed. “
“The Postal Service itself has warned that voters – even if they cast their ballots by state deadline – in 46 states and in Washington, DC, could be fired by early delays.” “This is a serious threat to the integrity of the elections and to our entire democracy.”
Democrats demanded that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a Republican cashier and top donor to President Donald Trump who took over the Postal Service in June, and Chairman of the Postal Service Board of Governors Michael Duncan, a former Republican chairman National Committee, testify before the House Oversight Committee next Monday.
That hearing, Democrats, said, “will examine the sweeping operational and organizational changes at the Postal Service that experts warn could degrade delivery standards, delay the mail and potentially the rights of eligible Americans to vote by mail in the coming elections in November. “
The announcement comes as policy changes that DeJoy, a former executive logistics company, recently implemented have delayed the service. The postmaster general has instituted a number of new policy settings, including a payout in overpayments, which have delayed postal bans on important items such as prescription medications.
DeJoy was earlier scheduled to appear before Congress next month, with Sunday’s announcement following a scare over Congress not moving any faster. The Second Chamber is not set to return until early September, although the hearing can take place without members being recalled.
A spokesman for the postal service did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
The Postal Service has been in severe financial penalties for years, mainly due to its legal obligation to finance annual pension benefits in advance. In the course of the coronavirus pandemic, letter volume has dropped significantly, while the number of packages treated has increased.
Internal documents checked by NBC News showed that DeJoy was firing 671 of its mail sorting machines, the absence of which would further contribute to the delay of the mail, postal workers said. A USPS spokesman, David Partenheimer, told NBC News that the removal involved “Normal business adjustments!” and added that the Postal Service often moves equipment due to fluctuating mail volume.
Meanwhile, several states received recent letters warning the Postal Service that their vote-by-mail deadline was too tight to guarantee good delivery. A number of states are expanding e-mail voting due to the pandemic, trying to prevent full-blown polling stations and possible spread of the virus.
Michael Mize, president of the Michigan Postal Workers Union who has worked in the Postal Service for nearly 23 years, told NBC News that the current unrest is “the strongest political attack on the Postal Service – my existence – that I have ever seen. haw. “
“My opinion, the position I have taken, is that the appointment that was made (by DeJoy) and the actions that followed are a direct internal attack on what we do and it makes me sick and it makes me angry, “he said.
But Mize added that he still believes the Postal Service vote by e-mail can handle just fine, even with the changes. As others have pointed out, even a large increase in post-in-ballots would be pale in comparison to the parcel tax that the Postal Service handles every year at Christmas.
“I work with these people and I know they will do everything they can to make this happen,” he said. “They take too much pride in it. They don’t just go over and say, ‘Oh, okay.’ It just will not happen. “
Democrats proposed $ 25 billion in emergency funds to the Postal Service. Concerns over the Postal Service escalated last week after Trump told Fox Business that voting by post would be difficult if that funding, in addition to $ 3.6 billion in voting per post funding, was blocked.
“Well, they need that money to run the post office so it can take all these millions and millions of ballots,” Trump said. “But if they don’t get those two items, that means you can not have universal mail-in-voice because they are not equipped to have it.”
In an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union”, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Trump had no problem voting for “no-excuse absentee” but opposed universal post-in balloting. The president recently asked to vote per Florida.
“I will give you this guarantee now,” Meadows said. “The president of the United States will not interfere with anyone who casts their vote in a legitimate way, whether it is the post office or something else.”
Meadows also suggested that Trump be open to a standalone Postal Service funding bill as one along with one of the president’s legislative goals.
Speaking at a news conference on Saturday, Trump said “the Post Office is a disaster” and that DeJoy “wants to make the Post Office great again.”
On voice-by-post, the president said, “Absenteeism is good; mail-in, universal, is very, very bad.”
Despite allegations by the president and his supporters about massive fraud, there remains no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the US, per various investigations and studies.
Asked about the lack of evidence Sunday, Meadows said, “There is no evidence that there is no (fraud).”
