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Reuters
The USPS is the most popular US government agency
Democrats need to push through with a bill to fund the U.S. Postal Service, despite the postmaster’s decision to suspend a controversial plan to cut it back.
Critics said the changes could have hampered postal voting, a major issue in the November presidential election.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a key ally of President Trump, who believes that postal voting will hurt his re-election, stopped the cuts until after the interview.
Leading Democrat Nancy Pelosi said the service was still in jeopardy.
- What is American series about postal service?
An increase in postal vote is expected in the elections, amid the outbreak of coronavirus. But President Trump is strongly opposed to them, saying they will lead to widespread voter fraud, although there is no evidence that this would happen.
What changes were planned?
The US Postal Service (USPS) has been under financial pressure, which will only increase with the burden of the postal vote. Up to half of all votes could be mailed.
Under Mr. DeJoy, it had begun what it said were austerity measures.
This includes removing mailboxes, canceling cancellations, reducing overtime and closing sorting centers
But opponents said this would slow down the handling of postal cuts.
Referring to postal elections, Mr. Trump said on Tuesday that the elections “can never come up with an outcome” and “they will have to do it again, and no one wants that”.
He has shown no desire to increase funding for the USPS.
The series has raised accusations that the USPS, the most popular government agency, is being politicized.
What did the Democrats say?
Ms Pelosi, the Speaker of the Democratic-run House of Representatives, said it was still planning to vote on a postal services bill that would provide a $ 25bn (£ 19bn) boost in funding and measures to bring about organizational change. stop.
She said Mr DeJoy’s suspension “only stops a limited number of postmaster changes, does not reverse the damage already done, and alone is not enough to ensure voters are not fired this autumn”. .
“The House will move forward this Saturday with our vote.”
Earlier, she said Mr DeJoy “felt the heat … and that’s what we were trying to do, make it too much for her to handle”.
Democrat House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said his party would “make sure in law” that the changes would stop.
If, as expected, the bill passes in the House of Representatives, it will go to the Republican-led Senate.
Some Republicans have also opposed the proposed USPS amendments, but House Speaker Mitch McConnell said: “I do not think we will pass a post-only bill in the House.”
What did Mrs. DeJoy say?
The former Republican donor said post office hours could not be cut now, and mailboxes and sorting machines would stop being removed.
He also said overtime pay would be approved to ensure deliveries arrived on time.
“To prevent even the appearance of any influence on election post, I suspend these initiatives until after the end of the election,” Mr DeJoy said in a statement.
The U-turn came with Mr. DeJoy because of testimony before Congress and at least 20 states preparing for a case.
Mr. Trump said he was not involved in the decision and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said the president had never ordered postal operational changes to allow for slow mail deliveries.
Post votes in the US
Voice by post is not new to the US. According to Reuters, about one in four voters in 2016 cast ballots.
- Does US postal vote lead to ‘enormous fraud’?
Critics say people have been able to vote more than once through absent votes and then re-vote in person, although several national and state-level studies over the years have found no evidence of widespread fraud.
The rate of voter fraud in general is between 0.00004% and 0.0009% in the US, according to a 2017 study by the Brennan Center for Justice.
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