Democrats advance $25 billion Postal Service bailout
House Democrats voted to advance a $25 billion U.S. Postal Service funding package during an emergency Saturday session that the GOP labeled a political exercise aimed at trashing President Trump ahead of the Republican National Convention next week. Democrats scheduled a final vote on the measure Saturday afternoon. It would provide $25 billion to the USPS and would prohibit Postmaster General Louis DeJoy from implementing significant service changes at any time during the coronavirus outbreak.
Democrats accuse DeJoy of collaborating with Trump to undermine mail delivery in order to make it harder for people to vote by mail. “This president is on a warpath to destroy the Postal Service, and through that, our elections,” Rep. Mark Pocan, a Wisconsin Democrat, said. A record number of voters are expected to vote by mail in the Nov. 3 election. At the same time, the coronavirus outbreak has caused a shortage of personnel in some areas. Trump appointed DeJoy, a prominent GOP donor and businessman, to serve as postmaster and to reform the financially troubled agency. USPS lost nearly $70 billion over the past 11 years, and DeJoy said it is on track to lose another $9 billion this year. DeJoy told a GOP-run Senate oversight hearing on Friday that he implemented reforms aimed at improving on-time mail delivery, which has lagged for years. But Democrats argued the mail delivery has gotten worse, not better, since he took over on June 16 because packages and mail were not making it onto the trucks.
Democrats accuse DeJoy of speeding up previously scheduled removal of mail-sorting equipment and mailboxes. DeJoy announced earlier in August that he was halting those efforts, but Democrats said their bill will force him to put the mailboxes and sorting machines back in place. Democrats accused him of slashing overtime for postal workers, citing union complaints. DeJoy said he has not cut any overtime and has spent $700 million so far on extra hours. Republicans accused Democrats of creating a crisis to make it appear Trump is attempting to influence the November election unfairly. Trump said he opposes universal mail-in voting because the process is vulnerable to fraud and other problems. They pointed to the timing of the emergency session, sandwiched between the Democratic National Convention that ended Thursday and the Republican National Convention, which starts on Monday. “This is a joke,” Rep. Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican and ranking member on the House Rules Committee, said. “This is a theatrical moment punctuating the two conventions.”
But Democrats noted constituents in Democratic and Republican districts are complaining about late mail and not receiving critical medicine or business packages for weeks. “Here we are, with a crisis in the Postal Service,” Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat, said, criticizing the GOP opposition. “Mail has slowed down all across the country. Members are getting calls, including Republican members. And what’s the response? Oh well, we’ll just let it go." Democrats have been trying for months to provide the $25 billion to the Postal Service. They included the funding in a $3 trillion coronavirus aid package House Democrats passed in May, and it became a key sticking point in negotiations with the White House on a final aid deal. The Trump administration offered a $10 billion compromise for the post office, but Democrats rejected that.
On Saturday, House Republicans pointed out that the USPS has enough money on hand to keep operating at sufficient levels. And they said any new spending must include a reform plan. Congress has struggled for years to pass significant legislation to reform the Postal Service, which has experienced rising costs despite declining business. “The Post Office tells us they have $15 billion on hand, they have access to a $10 billion line of credit that will more than take them for a year from now, so we don't need to be spending this money right now,” Cole said. “It’s a silly, silly bill.” Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, justified the revenue loss at a press conference in the Capitol on Saturday. "It's not a business. It's a service," she said.
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