House Speaker Nancy Pelosi used her power to cut the House’s recess short and return to Washington, D.C. to “save the postal service.” Using that line as the title of her letter, Pelosi addressed the current controversy over mail-in voting, Donald Trump‘s new Postmaster General tearing apart the existing U.S. Postal Service and the attempt by the GOP to “steal” the election in the eyes of many critics.
The House wasn’t scheduled to return to the capital until after Labor Day on Sept. 14 but the situation and public outcry have forced hands. According to The New York Times, Representatives will return for a vote on legislation to block the Postal Service from “enforcing any changes” that weren’t in place at the start of the year. The issue is heated due to the coronavirus pandemic and the impending 2020 Election in November.
Videos by PopCulture.com
“The Postal Service is a pillar of our democracy, enshrined in the Constitution and essential for providing critical services: delivering prescriptions, Social Security checks, paychecks, tax returns and absentee ballots to millions of Americans, including in our most remote communities,” Pelosi wrote in a press release to fellow Democrats in the House. “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. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, one of the top Trump mega-donors, has proven a complicit crony as he continues to push forward sweeping new operational changes that degrade postal service, delay the mail, and – according to the Postal Service itself – threaten to deny the ability of eligible Americans to cast their votes through the mail in the upcoming elections in a timely fashion”
The announcement of the return comes on the heels of several high-profile Democratic lawmakers sought Postal Service officials to testify later in the month. According to the calls sent out Sunday, the policy changes put in place by DeJoy represent a “grave threat to the integrity of the election.”
“I am calling upon the House to return to session later this week to vote on Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman 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 on January 1, 2020,” Pelosi’s letter continued. “To save the Postal Service, I am also calling upon Members to participate in a Day of Action on Tuesday by appearing at a Post Office in their districts for a press event.In a time of a pandemic, the Postal Service is Election Central.Americans should not have to choose between their health and their vote.”
Sen. Chuck Schumer noted that he plans to introduce similar legislation in the Senate, though he will have to contend with Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell. Schumer did add that he will urge McConnell to bring Senators back to Congress from their recess to vote on his provision. No word on if this will speed up the ongoing stimulus debates, or if President Donald Trump could do anything to stop the legislation.
