Stimulus Checks: USPS Changes Could Delay Payments

The drastic changes being made at the U.S. Postal Service will not just impact the 2020 presidential election. On Monday, lawmakers in the U.S. Congress shared their concern that the USPS delays would impact Americans waiting on a second stimulus check, according to a report by CNBC. The changes could delay the delivery of checks by a full week.

Lawmakers are already running late when it comes to delivering another stimulus check amid the coronavirus pandemic. As they creep towards a deal, some are becoming concerned that the USPS will further delay the process. President Donald Trump‘s newly appointed Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, has been under fire for cutting the agency’s work capacity, slashing operating hours and removing mail-sorting machines and mail collection boxes around the country. If and when a stimulus check gets cut, this could have a significant impact on Americans waiting desperately for financial aid.

While over 160 million stimulus checks have been delivered since April, there are reportedly millions more still waiting to go out. As delayed as these payments already are, any further hold-up could be catastrophic.

Political analysts have focused mostly on how DeJoy’s changes at the post office will impact the 2020 presidential election, as states pivot towards mail-in voting due to the pandemic. However, there are plenty of other dire implications to these USPS cutbacks, including the delivery of stimulus checks. Other forms of essential mail such as checks, bills and prescription medicine may not arrive on time under DeJoy’s new rules.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called Congress back from a summer recess to take action on DeJoy’s cuts to the USPS. She is pushing a bill that would block DeJoy from making these changes temporarily. Meanwhile, Congress has scheduled an emergency hearing for Monday, Aug. 24, to investigate DeJoy’s actions as a possible form of election tampering.

Democrats in the United States Senate are concerned by DeJoy’s leadership as well. In a letter to the USPS Board of Governors, a group of Democratic senators wrote: “Mr. DeJoy appears to be engaged in a partisan effort, with the support of President Trump, to delay and degrade mail service and undermine the mission of the United States Postal Service.” The signees included Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders.

DeJoy has claimed that his changes are an attempt to make the USPS profitable after years of losing money. Over the years, other proposals to meet that need have been shot down by lawmakers. As a previous RNC chairman and major donor to the Trump campaign, politicians, journalists and activists agree that DeJoy has reason to disrupt the USPS ahead of the 2020 election.