Trump Uses Post Office in Voter Suppression Scheme

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, facing intense backlash over cost-cutting moves that Democrats, state attorneys general and civil rights groups warn could jeopardize mail-in voting, said on Tuesday that the Postal Service would suspend those operational changes until after the 2020 election.

The measures, which included eliminating overtime for mail carriers, reducing post office hours and removing postal boxes, have been faulted for slowing mail delivery and criticized as an attempt to disenfranchise voters seeking to vote safely during the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr. DeJoy, a major donor to President Trump who was tapped in May to run the Postal Service, said in a statement that “to avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail” he was suspending changes “that have been raised as areas of concern as the nation prepares to hold an election in the midst of a devastating pandemic.”

Mr. DeJoy said retail hours at the post office would not change, no mail processing facilities would be closed, and overtime would continue to be approved “as needed.”

It was unclear, however, whether the agency would reverse measures already put in place across the country that union officials and workers say have inflicted deep damage to the Postal Service. That includes the removal of hundreds of mail-sorting machines, according to a June 17 letter sent from the Postal Service to the American Postal Workers Union. Some of those machines have already been destroyed, union officials and workers said.

The White House is formally opposing a bill introduced by House Democrats to halt changes to U.S. Postal Service operations until after the coronavirus pandemic and provide billions in funding to the beleaguered agency, one day before lawmakers return to Washington to vote on the measure.

The Office of Management and Budget said in a statement Friday that the Trump administration “strongly opposes” the bill and that President Trump’s advisers would recommend he veto it should it reach his desk. The White House argues that the bill would add to the challenges currently facing the Postal Service, accusing Democrats of trying to “exploit the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext for placing counterproductive restrictions on USPS’s already limited operational flexibilities.”

The White House said that the measure would “impose burdensome new requirements on USPS that would make it even harder for USPS to deliver election mail” and subject the agency to litigation risks and costs. The White House also took issue with the $25 billion in Postal Service funding proposed in the coronavirus bill — which it called a “bailout” — because the money would be “arbitrarily” granted to the agency without being linked to the pandemic or the November election. “This bill is an overreaction to sensationalized media reports that have made evidence-free accusations that USPS has undertaken reforms to achieve political rather than operational objectives,” the statement reads.
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News reports of mail collection boxes being removed, mail sorting machines disabled and resulting delays in mail have caused alarm among lawmakers. Under pressure, DeJoy said this week he would pause the changes until after the 2020 election but said he still intends to pursue reforms.

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The House bill, called the Delivering for America Act, is sponsored by Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.). It would prohibit the Postal Service from implementing changes to operations or level of service in place at the beginning of this year until the end of the coronavirus pandemic and provide $25 billion for the Postal Service’s operations.

Specifically, the bill would stop any changes in the nature of postal services affecting service nationwide; revisions of service standards; closures of any post office or cutback in hours; prohibitions on overtime pay to employees; and changes that would delay mail. The House is scheduled to vote on the bill Saturday. The vote is likely to be largely symbolic, given that the bill would face an uphill battle in the GOP-controlled Senate and the White House is threatening a veto.