House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and other House Democrat leaders have called the chamber back into session during its August recess in order to vote on a bill to prop up the U.S. Postal Service by pumping billions of dollars into the organization and reversing cutbacks to it that some fear are leading to delivery delays.
A vote on a bill introduced by House Oversight and Reform Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) is now planned for Saturday. The bill would prohibit the USPS from implementing cutbacks ordered in January and would also give $25 billion in additional funding to it.
The $25 billion was originally part of a $3 trillion coronavirus relief package passed in the House, but not in the Senate.
Republicans have resisted giving more funding to the USPS because they say it is mismanaged and the money will just be wasted. President Donald Trump was willing to put $10 billion toward the postal service as a compromise with Democrats.
Investigating the Post Office
In addition to voting on the bill, Democrats have also arranged for Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and Robert Duncan, the chairman of the USPS Board of Governors, to testify before the Oversight panel on the Monday after the vote about mail delays and cost-cutting measures.
“The American people want their mail, medicines, and mail-in ballots delivered in a timely way, and they certainly do not want drastic changes and delays in the midst of a global pandemic just months before the election,” Maloney said.
The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. and will take place on the first day of the Republican Convention.
Maybe Democrats are looking for a way to distract from the Convention? Hmmm.
House Republicans blast Democrat accusations about Post Office
House Republicans reacted angrily to Democrats’ accusations that Trump is trying to harm the Post Office, calling it a “baseless conspiracy theory.”
The questions began when the Post Office notified 46 states that their mail-in or absentee ballots may be delayed and not arrive in time to be counted for the November election.
“Democrats have no shame. They are pushing conspiracy theories about the USPS to undermine faith in the election and distract from their own failures,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) tweeted.
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) argued that it’s a “fabricated crisis” and pointed out that USPS revenues have been up since the beginning of the pandemic.
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