The two members of the Republican House bowed their party late on Saturday and voted to increase Post Office funding and bring changes back to Post Office operations, which are to blame for delaying postal bans while President Donald Trump sparred with Gov. Phil Murphy on plans to send out ballot papers to millions of Garden State voters.
Reps. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd Dist., And Chris Smith, R-4th Dist., Were among only 26 House Republicans who voted in a rare Saturday session for the Post Office bill.
The bill was passed, 257-150, despite Trump’s threat to veto the measure.
“We must not change the Postal Service, which has proved so critical to our economy, elections and democracy,” Smith said.
“I visited these hard-working women and men of the USPS this week, and it only galvanized my decision to ensure they were not used as political pawns,” said Van Drew, who switched parties and was a major backer of Trump is. “We need to make sure they have the resources to deliver in these times to help all Americans receive their mail, which may contain medicines as essential goods.”
The Senate will not vote on the bill, said Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
However, the House of Representatives plans to stop the pressure. The Supervisory and Reform Commission is due to hear Monday from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
Trump has claimed that automatically sending votes would lead to mass voter fraud, a claim that is not supported by various polls.
His campaign, the Republican National Committee and the state GOP have gone to federal court to reverse Murphy’s plan to send an absent vote to every active voter in the state, about 5.8 million of the 6.2 million registered to vote.
“We encourage people to embrace the absenteeism processes that are in place that are tried and true,” RNC President Ronna McDaniel said Sunday on CBS ‘”Face the Nation.” “And we deserve states trying to change their process 90 days from an election, which adds chaos to an election where we need certainty.”
The president renewed his attack on New Jersey’s expanded voice-by-mail on Saturday, calling it “disaster in the wings.” Murphy quickly responded that Trump’s tweet was “false.”
Spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Had called the House back from its August recession to respond Saturday to DeJoy’s cuts in postal service operations while states collapsed for a disruption in postal ballots.
DeJoy said earlier this week that he would leave post-processing only until after the election, but did not promise to reconnect sorters or make other changes.
The House move transferred $ 25 billion to the Postal Service, requiring it to treat e-mail votes as first-time mail, and reverse service changes that were removed for delivery delays.
McConnell said he would not bring the bill, and Democrats blamed the deadlock on a larger coronavirus stimulus bill.
“The House of Representatives will pass absolutely no stand-alone legislation for the Postal Service, while American families will continue without more relief,” McConnell said.
But the House passed legislation three months ago that included more postal service funding, such as $ 1,200 payments to individuals, an increase of $ 600 in additional unemployment insurance payments, and support to state and local governments. McConnell has refused to vote in a House of Representatives on the measure.
Lawmakers from both parties were shocked after DeJoy, a major Trump donor, cut overtime and shut down sorting machines in an attempt to save money.
The actions delayed the delivery of mail, raising concerns that the Post Office would not be able to anticipate post-in-votes expected this fall because Americans are withholding their personal voting rights due to the pandemic .
The Postal Service told New Jersey that it could not guarantee all post-in-ballots would be delivered on time, and Attorney General Gurbir Grewal and his colleagues in other states asked the agency to submit the service.
Separately, lawmakers in New Jersey held their colleagues across the country on Tuesday to hold events to mark the changes, which were also the subject of a series of protests this weekend in the state.
Smith decided to try to remove almost half of the 26 machines at the Hamilton Post Processing Center, site of the 2001 spleen card attack.
“Efficient and powerful equipment such as delivery barcode sorters move 40,000 pieces per hour,” Smith said. “To dismantle perfect control equipment, the mail is delayed and hurts customers and commerce.”
A report on postal services released by the monitoring committee for Saturday’s vote found a recent drop in service standards for first class, priority post and other post classes.
“What’s happening now is one of the worst tumultuous crises of the last four years,” Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-9th Dist., Who asked Grewal to conduct a criminal investigation into whether the Trump administration is trying to differentiate the general election by cutting back on post-operation.
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Jonathan D. Salant can be reached to [email protected].
