The bill is still being finalized, top Democrats told members during a Caucus call, but it will include a version of Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s Delivering for America Act, which would prohibit recent USPS operational changes made by the Trump administration that ran the country’s postal service.
The bill will also include Democrats’ first request for $ 25 billion in funding for the Postal Service, three sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
Chamber member Nancy Pelosi told members that the final bill is likely to come out of committee on Tuesday.
Democrats in the House of Representatives also announced Monday afternoon that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy will testify next week amid accusations that the Trump administration is deliberately hoarding the Postal Service in an attempt to vote in the pandemic.
Pelosi announced over the weekend that she would recall the room during the session of her recession in August to consider emergency legislation to stop service changes under DeJoy. The House of Representatives had earlier planned to return to the polls in mid-September.
Democrats have accused the new policy is meant to limit post-in ballot for the November election. DeJoy, an ally and donor of President Donald Trump, has denied the claims, saying the changes are intended to save money amid a difficult financial situation at the USPS.
“The postal service is a pillar of our democracy, enshrined in the Constitution and essential to the delivery of critical services: provision of regulations, social security benefits, payroll, tax returns and absentee ballots to millions of Americans, including in our most remote communities, Pelosi wrote in a letter to members. “Alarmingly, we see across the nation the devastating effects of the president’s campaign to sabotage the election by manipulating the Postal Service to decipher voters.”
In the ongoing talks with Democrats on the broader coronavirus package, the White House reached a tentative $ 10 billion deal for the Postal Service, say people involved in the talks. But administration officials are opposed to a USPS-specific bill as the Democrats are set to propose – and have said all operational changes made by the postmaster’s general are done with only the postal service’s finances in place. thoughts.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Monday called for USPS funding to be wrapped up in a measure alongside other pieces of the embassy talks on which both sides agree, including provisions such as another round of direct payments. to Americans.
“We would draw that,” he said.
Meadows said Democrats were unlikely to agree to that approach, claiming they would use the USPS bill “as a policy tool instead of a legislative tool.”
“The president is very clear that he is ready to provide money for the post office, as long as it is included in some other lean measure if we can not agree to a bigger deal,” Meadows told reporters.
CNN’s Sarah Westwood and Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.
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