Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is expected to testify before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs on Friday about the U.S. Postal Service amid the battle over post-in-ballots.
The panel, chairman of sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Will hold a virtual hearing with DeJoy on Friday.
“I wanted to give the PMG a chance to tell his side of the story before he appeared before a hostile House committee,” Johnson told Fox News on Tuesday.
DEMOCRATS REQUEST POSTMASTER GENERAL, FIXED USPS TESTIFIED ON MAIL-IN BALLOTS
The hearing comes after congressional Democrats over the weekend DeJoy and U.S. Postal Service Board Chairman Robert Duncan testified about recent “sweeping and dangerous operational changes” at the bureau that they claim the post “slows down” and “the danger brings integrity to the elections in 2020.
Democrats summoned DeJoy and Duncan over the weekend to testify during an “urgent hearing” before the House Oversight Committee on August 24. A source familiar with the plans told Fox News that DeJoy has agreed to appear Monday.
The demands came from Second Chamber member Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., House Oversight Committee Chair, Carolyn Maloney, DN.Y., and Sen. Gary Peters , D-Mich., The top Democrat on the House Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
“I’m glad I secured a supervisor with Postmaster General DeJoy on Friday to address pressing questions about the Post Office’s delays that are causing massive violations in the country,” Peters said in a statement Tuesday. The Postal Service is a lifeline for Michiganders and Americans across the country who depend on reliable postal services, especially in rural communities – and we need to ensure that they can continue to rely on reliable and running delivery, no matter where they live. “
He added: “As a member of the only First Chamber committee overseeing the Postal Service, I will continue to press for answers on Mr. DeJoy’s recent guidelines and their impact on all Americans who trust the Postal Service. for presentations, and their small businesses, voices and other important purposes. ”
The Washington Post first reported Tuesday that DeJoy would testify about the USPS’s financial requirements for voting by mail.
Trump and the Republican Party have been warning for months about possible fraud linked to voting via mail. The RNC and the Trump campaign have filed lawsuits to retaliate against Democrats’ efforts to restore voting laws in response to the pandemic; this, while Democrats say cases of actual voter fraud are limited and argue that Republicans are trying to suppress voter turnout to improve their chances of winning elections.
“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 election,” the Democrats wrote in a joint statement Sunday.
Democrats went on to claim that DeJoy is a ‘Trump mega-donor’ and ‘acted as an accomplice in the president’s campaign to merge in the election’ by launching ‘sweeping new operational changes that set delivery standards humiliate and delay the post. ‘
Last week, the USPS warned 46 states and the District of Columbia that it can not guarantee that all postal ballots will arrive in time to count in the November election.
“This is a serious threat to the integrity of the election and to our entire democracy,” she wrote, referring to the USPS warning, noting that even if voters meet every deadline and their state’s election procedures follow, their vote may not be counted.
Democrats have asked for $ 25 billion, including $ 3.5 billion in election resources, to strengthen the Postal Service in time for the election to be included in the fourth coronavirus stimulus package. Trump has said the money from the Postal Service will not come unless Democrats come to the negotiating table on coronavirus relief and give concessions to Republicans.
FAUCI SAYS: THERE ARE ‘NO REASON’ AMERICANS CAN ONLY VOTE IN PERSON IN NOVEMBER
“Sure, if they give us what we want,” the post office president said during a news conference Friday. “And it’s not what I want, it’s what the American people want.”
Trump said on Thursday that voting via email would not be possible without the funding.
“It’s her fault,” Trump told FOX Business ” Mornings with Maria. “They want $ 3.5 billion for something that is fraudulent … for the post-vote, universal post-vote. They want $ 25 billion for the post office. They need that money so it can work and they can take those millions and millions of ballots. ”
The president said voice-by-post is conditional on funding.
“But if they don’t get those two items, then they can’t have email voting,” he said.
The president went on to vote by mail. He said polls were “sent to dogs” and “dead people,” citing states like Virginia, where he said more than “500,000 false ballots were sent to voters,” and in New York, where voting by mail in a week caused -long delay in announcing results for some races in the primary state.
But former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaigner said sending votes by mail was the ‘safest form of voting’ in the midst of the novel coronavirus.
Meanwhile, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said Dr. Anthony Fauci that “there is no reason” Americans can not vote personally for the presidential election in 2020, as long as voters follow proper social distancing guidelines amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“I think if done carefully, according to the guidelines, there’s no reason I can see why that may not be the case,” Fauci told ABC News this week. ‘If you wear a mask, if you observe the physical distance and do not have a full situation, then there is no reason why [people] would not be able to do that. ”
Fauci added that individuals who are “physically or otherwise compromised” and who are not interested in physically going to the polls after election day can use e-mail voting.
But Fauci doubled down, saying “there is no reason why we should not be able to vote personally or otherwise.”
Fox News’ Chad Pergram and Kelly Phares contributed to this report.
