DeJoy to Answer to US Senate

(Postmaster General Louis DeJoy departs from a meeting with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in the Capitol on Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2020. (Photo by Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc., via Getty Images.)

As a result of Congressional lawmakers being inundated by complaints of policy changes by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy that are disrupting the USPS, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has instructed Congress to return to work this week to "save the Postal Service."

Pelosi has explained to her colleagues: "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." Democratic lawmakers saytheir constituents are furious about news of the removal of high-speed sorting machines, unbolting of corner mailboxes, and a Postal Service warning to individual states that ballots may not be delivered in time to be counted. 

Pelosi is also calling on her colleagues to “participate in a Day of Action on Tuesday by appearing at a Post Office in their districts for a press event," before their scheduled return to Washington, DC, on Friday. The House will convene for a special Saturday session this week to debate the Delivering for America Act, that was introduced by House Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) last week. If passed, the law would "would prohibit the Postal Service from dialing back levels of service it had in place" on Jan. 1, until the pandemic ends.

This measure will likely pass in the House of Representatives, but will then face opposition in the Republican controlled Senate. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) also issued a statement calling on Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to reconvene the Senate and take up the measure for a vote. 

(Postmaster General Louis DeJoy attends meetings at the Capitol in Washington DC, last week. Photo by Alex Wong, via Getty Images.)

Democrats have requested that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and Postal Service Board of Governors Chairman Michael Duncan, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, testify before the House Oversight Committee on Aug. 24 and DeJoy has agreed to appear on Monday. Postmaster General DeJoy will also testifybefore the Republican-led Homeland and Governmental Affairs Committee in the US Senate on Friday to answer questions about his recent drastic structural changes at USPS.

The hearing is intended to "examine the sweeping operational and organizational changes at the Postal Service that experts warn could degrade delivery standards, slow the mail and potentially impair the rights of eligible Americans to cast their votes through the mail in the upcoming November elections," and could help to pressure McConnell to call the US Senate back to session to debate the Maloney Act. 

On Tuesday, DeJoy issued a public statement saying he wanted to assure Americans of the following:

• Retail hours at the post offices will not change

• Mail processing equipment and blue collection boxes will remain where they are

• No mail processing facilities will be closed

• Overtime will be approved as needed

Considering that DeJoy is scheduled to begin answering questions from members the US Senate on Friday, the timing of these concessions are concerning. Moreover, DeJoy has not addressed Trump’s continued threats to withhold critical funding and does not explain how the USPS will overcome the ongoing fiscal issues. 

DeJoy does not specify if any of the equipment that has been removed so far will be returned. The US Postal Service has removed at least 10 automated mail sorting machines throughout Michigan facilities this summer, lowering the first-class mail-processing capacity by more than 300,000 letters per hour, according to postal worker union leaders. He has also not addressed the letter sent from USPS general counsel to each individual state that warns of significant delays that could impact mailed- in ballots. DeJoy has yet to discuss how he will combat the issue that people will now need to add additional postage to make sure vote-by-mail ballots are delivered in a timely fashion. 

(US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy (center) departs the Capitol Building in Washington, DC, on August 7, 2020. Photo by Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call, via AP Images.)

For more detail on the major attempts by Trump, DeJoy and possibly the USPS Board of Governors to implement policies that will intentionally slow mail delivery service in the United States leading up to an election so far, read Definitive Guide on Trump Destroying USPS. We can expect these topics to be addressed by Congress when they conduct hearings with Postmaster General DeJoy and Postal Service Board of Governors Chairman Michael Duncan on Aug. 24. Each segment is meant to give you a snapshot, with a link provided for you to access more detail on each subject if you want it.

BREAKING UPDATE: While Postmaster General Louis DeJoy may have announced on Tuesday that he would be suspending changes to USPS operations just ahead of his US Senate testimony, a new internal email confirms that he does not intend for machines that had been removed to be put back into working order. 

The email instructs postal workers not to reconnect any mail sorting machines that have previously been disconnected. Kevin Couch, director of USPS maintenance operations wrote the following guidance in the email:  

"Please message out to your respective Maintenance Managers tonight. They are not to reconnect/reinstall machines that have been previously disconnected without approval from HQ Maintenance, no matter what direction they are getting from their plant manager."

Louis DeJoy is scheduled to testify before the US Senate this morning starting at 9:00 ET to answer questions about his latest drastic structural changes that has led to many not receiving important mail including medications, paychecks and other vital deliveries. These latest moves by DeJoy also threaten to disenfranchise voters who will be relying on the USPS to cast their ballots leading up to the November election. For more on DeJoy’s testimony as it happens in real time, follow me on Twitter, where I will be live-tweeting the hearing.

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Amee Vanderpool writes the SHERO Newsletter and is an attorney, published author, contributor to newspapers and magazines and analyst for BBC radio. She can be reached at avanderpool@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @girlsreallyrule.

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