House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling Congress back into session to vote on a proposal that would block the United States Postal Service (USPS) from making any changes to operations or level of service for the remainder of the year, she announced Sunday.
The move comes as Democrats claim President Donald Trump’s appointee to lead USPS, Louis DeJoy, is overseeing mass operational changes to the service that is causing backlogs and service disruptions ahead of the November election.
The assault by President Trump & his mega-donor Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on the Postal Service threatens lives, livelihood & life of our American democracy. I am calling on the House to return to vote on Chairwoman Maloney’s “Delivering for America Act.” #DontMessWithUSPS
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) August 17, 2020
“Alarmingly, across the nation, we see the devastating effects of the President’s campaign to sabotage the election by manipulating the Postal Service to disenfranchise voters,” Pelosi said in a letter to Democrats. (RELATED: Nearly 50% Of Americans Believe Mail-In Voting Is Vulnerable To Significant Levels Of Fraud: Poll)
“That is why I am calling upon the House to return to session later this week to vote on Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman [Carolyn] Maloney’s ‘Delivering for America Act,’ which prohibits the Postal Service from implementing any changes to operations or level of service it had in place in January 1, 2020,” she continued.
The bill would prevent the postal service from making any changes through January 1, 2021 or when the pandemic ends, whichever comes first, according to the text. The bill would also prevent USPS from closing any facilities, prohibit USPS from cutting down overtime pay to employees, and prevent any change that would delay delivery of mail.
Pelosi and Maloney announced an emergency hearing scheduled for Aug. 24 to question DeJoy and other USPS staff about the new USPS regulations.
An internal memo from USPS dated July 10 laid out changes to the system, including prohibiting extra trips to deliver mail, preventing carriers from working overtime, and leaving mail at facilities if the workday ends.
In another memo from August, USPS said they would put in place a “hiring freeze” but that such freeze does not “initiate a reduction in force, and there are no immediate employee impacts.”
In an interview with “Mornings with Maria,” Trump said Democrats are holding out on a new coronavirus relief package because they want money for mail-in voting, which he claims will lead to mass voter fraud.
“They want $3.5 billion for something that’s fraudulent … for the mail-in votes, universal mail-in ballots. They want $25 billion for the post office. They need that money so it can work and they can take these millions and millions of ballots,” Trump said in the interview. (RELATED: Chris Wallace On Potential Mail-In Voting Fraud: ‘Isn’t It Possible That The President Really Has A Point Here?’)
However, Pelosi says the $25 billion for the USPS in the HEROES Act was actually recommended by the board of governors of the Postal Service, not Democrats, according to NPR.
Under heightened scrutiny, the Postal Service said it would stop removing mailboxes through mid-November following a wave of complaints from customers and Congress, according to the Associated Press.
“Given the recent customer concerns the Postal Service will postpone removing boxes for a period of 90 days while we evaluate our customers’ concerns,” Postal Service spokeswoman Kimberly Frum said, according to the AP.