Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has addressed the massive cost-cutting measures being implemented at the U.S. Postal Service. While DeJoy, who took over the job in June, has been accused of trying to dismantle the service ahead of the 2020 Presidential Election.
“Unfortunately, this transformative initiative has had unintended consequences that impacted our overall service levels,” DeJoy wrote in a memo, which was obtained by CNN. “However, recent changes are not the only contributing factors. Over the years we have grown undisciplined in our mail and package processing schedules, causing an increase in delayed mail between processing facilities and delivery units.” He also claimed that moves would increase “performance for the election and upcoming peak season and maintain the high level of public trust we have earned for dedication and commitment to our customers throughout our history.”
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DeJoy, who donated to President Donald Trump‘s presidential campaign, also addressed the new postal service restructuring, calling it a “strategic plan to achieve operation excellence and financial stability.” He described its financial situation as “dire” due to the coronavirus pandemic, as well as a decline in mail. Seemingly addressing the stimulus talks that advocated for funding for the USPS, DeJoy said the agency’s “critics are quick to point to our finance, yet they offer no solutions.”
Trump himself made some alarming comments about the USPS during a Thursday interview with Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo. The interview happened just prior to news that the institution was slowly deactivating mail sorting machines around the country for an unknown reason, fueling speculation he is attempting to interfere with the election. Trump, of course, blamed the Democrats, who he said: “want three-and-a-half-billion dollars for something that’ll turn out to be fraudulent — that’s election money basically.”
“They want $25 billion for the post office,” Trump continued. “Now, they need that money in order to have the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots. Now, in the meantime, they aren’t getting there. But if they don’t get those two items, that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting because they’re not equipped to have it.”
While the president has criticized mail-in voting for months, making a number of false claims that the “rigged” and the “scandal of our times” due to mail-in ballots. People have even called for Trump’s impeachment over the remarks, seeing it as a clear admission he’s trying to sway the election in his favor.
