WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he was blocking Democrats’ attempt to raise funds for the U.S. Postal Service and electoral infrastructure in a new bill for coronavirus, a bid to block more Americans from voting by mail during the pandemic.
Democrats in Congress accuse Republican Trump of trying to damage the Postal Service’s effort to get his chances re-elected, as opinion polls show him presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
Trump has spent months cracking down on e-mails as a possible source of fraud, even though millions of Americans – including many in the military – have cast absent votes for years without such problems.
Trump said his negotiators opposed calls for Democrats to help raise extra money for presidential, congressional and local voting during a pandemic that killed more than 165,000 Americans and presented logistical challenges to organizing such a large event as the 3 elections.
“The articles are the post office and the $ 3.5 billion for post-in votes,” Trump told Fox Business Network, saying Democrats want to give the post office $ 25 billion. “If we don’t make the deal, that means they can not have the money, that means they can not have universal post-in-vote.”
Trump later said in a newsletter that if a deal was reached that included post-financing, he would not fetish it.
The amount of money in question is less than 1% of the current proposed two-party aid package for Americans struggling with the pandemic. First Republicans have driven a $ 1 trillion reaction, while the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives handed over $ 3 billion in May.
The White House negotiating team of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows did not meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in six days.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that the Republican-controlled Senate will leave Washington until September, unless there is a coronavirus relief agreement that requires a vote.
“I still hope we will have some sort of bilingual agreement here in the coming weeks,” he told reporters.
‘PURE TRUMP’
Democrats have lashed out at accusing Trump and his party of trying to make it harder for Americans to vote, as experts said concerns over capturing COVID-19 could not keep half of voters voting in person .
“Pure Trump. He does not want elections, “Biden said when asked about Trump’s comments before a campaign.
Roughly one in four U.S. voters cast ballots by mail in 2016, and Trump voted by mail. Trump also criticized state efforts to make voting by post more available, saying without proof that it could lead to widespread fraud. Evidence shows that voting by mail is as safe as any other method.
Pelosi said all relief evidence for coronavirus should contain billions of dollars to protect not only the right of Americans to vote, but also essential services, such as dispensing prescription drugs.
“You would think they have a bit of sensitivity, but they are so obsessed with undermining absent voices that this is their connection here,” Pelosi told a news conference. “That says the president is not throwing money at voting for absentees and that he is not throwing money at the Postal Service, and is undermining the health of our democracy.”
White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany doubled down on a newsletter, saying the administration was opposed to any additional funding for election safety in a coronavirus relief bill.
A Reuters / Ipsos poll this week found that Americans blamed both parties for the standoff in negotiations, which led to the expiration of a $ 600-a-week bailout for unemployed people and the end of a moratorium on evictions.
New Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who has donated $ 2.7 million to Trump and his fellow Republicans since 2017, has made operational changes and a dismissal of the overtime leg in a bid to repair the financially troubled Postal Service , which reported a net loss of $ 2.2 billion in the last quarter.
These measures have led to postal delays throughout the country, which can complicate postal voting. State election officials have scrambled to expand the voting capacity of post.
Report by Patricia Zengerle, Susan Cornwell and David Morgan; Additional reports from Andy Sullivan, Jason Lange, Lisa Lambert, Susan Heavey, and David Shepardson in Washington and Trevor Hunnicutt in Delaware; Written by Patricia Zengerle; Edited by Scott Malone, Steve Orlofsky, Jonathan Oatis and Daniel Wallis
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