House Speaker of House Review and Reform Carolyn Maloney
Carolyn Bosher MaloneyEngel: IG report shows Pompeo’s ‘sham’ use of emergency declaration in arms sales State says it will be removed by report on watchdog OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Watchdog to weigh probe of Trump progress on Pebble Mine | Interior finalizes public lands HQ moves West over objection to Congress | EPA to give back methane: report MORE (DN.Y.) on Wednesday introduced legislation that would block the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) from carrying out a series of changes amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The Delivering for America Act would prevent USPS from introducing shifts to its operations as to the level of service that was in early 2020.
The bill comes as Maloney and other Democrats increasingly speak out against the decisions made at USPS in a year in which the presidential election will rely more heavily on voting by mail.
“Our Postal Service should not become an instrument of partisan politics, but should instead be protected as a neutral, independent entity that focuses on only one thing and one thing – delivering the mail,” Maloney said in a statement. “At this moment in the history of our nation, when the number of Americans voting by post for these presidential elections has more than doubled since the last one, Congress must protect the right of all eligible citizens to count their vote. “
“A once-in-a-century pandemic is not the time to introduce changes that threaten the reliability of services and transparency,” she added. “The [bill] would reverse these changes so that this fundamental American service can continue unhindered. ”
In a news release announcing the legislation, Maloney’s bureau cited multiple memos released by USPS earlier this year that included details about new policies and the organization’s organization.
Maloney also cited the millions in campaign contributions President Trump
Donald John TrumpDemocrat calls on White House to take back ambassador to Belarus nominated TikTok to collect data from mobile devices to track Android users: Peterson report wins Minnesota House primarily in crucial swing district MORE of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who assumed the post in June.
The actions of the Post Office have received attention in recent weeks amid concerns about how prepared the agency is for a rise in mail-in-votes. Some Democrats say the cost of cutting DeJoy’s, including reducing overtime and adjusting delivery policies, could only make things harder for the agency.
In early August, Maloney announced that she had invited DeJoy to appear before the Oversight panel on September 17 for a hearing examining “editing changes” at USPS. She was also among a group of Democratic senators and members of the House who last week sent a letter to the Inspector General of the USPS requesting recent staffing and policy changes under the Trump administration.
The letter was sent just days after DeJoy announced that the service had fired two top officials for overseeing day-to-day operations. An organizational chart also showed that 23 postal managers were reassigned and the five staff members left their positions for new roles in leadership.
USPS is facing emerging financial challenges, which have been compounded by the pandemic. The agency reported last Friday that it lost more than $ 2 billion between April and June, with DeJoy attributing the losses to “substantial declines in postal volume” and a “broken business model.”
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