House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is accusing Postmaster General Louis DeJoy of targeting minorities and attempting to sabotage mail-in voting in her latest salvo against the reform-minded chief of the United States Postal Service (USPS).
“This morning, I spoke with Postmaster General DeJoy and conveyed to him that his announcement is not a solution and is misleading,” the Washington Examiner quoted Pelosi as saying.
The speaker was referring to a statement that DeJoy released on Aug. 18 in which he declared, “The Postal Service is ready today to handle whatever volume of election mail it receives this fall,” in what was surely intended as an acknowledgment of concerns about the processing of mail-in and absentee ballots.
“Even with the challenges of keeping our employees and customers safe and healthy as they operate amid a pandemic, we will deliver the nation’s election mail on time and within our well-established service standards,” DeJoy pledged.
Reform initiatives suspended
Amid outrage from the left about ongoing efforts to cut costs and stop the massive financial bleeding suffered by the agency in recent years, DeJoy promised that Post Office business hours will not change, equipment and boxes will remain as they are, and that no processing facilities will close ahead of the November election.
Dejoy went on to stress that overtime time pay has and will continue to be approved on an as-needed basis and added that he will be halting “some longstanding operational initiatives” that predate his appointment.
“To avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail, I am suspending these initiatives until after the election is concluded,” Dejoy stated.
Pelosi remains skeptical
However, the House speaker doesn’t believe those assurances are good enough and accused DeJoy and the administration as a whole of having ulterior motives.
“The Postal Service is Election Central during the pandemic, and Democrats will not allow the President to force Americans to choose between their health and their vote,” Pelosi insisted, adding:
The Postmaster General frankly admitted that he had no intention of replacing the sorting machines, blue mailboxes and other key mail infrastructure that have been removed and that plans for adequate overtime, which is critical for the timely delivery of mail, are not in the works.
“All of these changes directly jeopardize the election and disproportionately threaten to disenfranchise voters in communities of color,” the veteran California Democrat alleged.
Pelosi has called lawmakers back to Capitol Hill in order to vote on a bill that would immediately allocate $25 billion to the USPS. This comes despite recent arguments from anti-Trump attorney and lobbyist Nick Harper pointing out that USPS financial statements show that is in no danger of going broke before November.
For now, at least, the Democrats appear unwilling to let go of this manufactured crisis, and they remain determined in their quest to undermine Americans’ faith in the integrity of our electoral system. What a shame.
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