House Democrats are holding a hearing on new operational changes being made at the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).
In a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) said, “I am writing to request your testimony at an urgent hearing before the Committee on Oversight and Reform.”
“The hearing will examine your sweeping operational and organizational changes at the Postal Service, which 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,” she added.
Maloney continued to noted that DeJoy’s staff previously said he would not be available testify before Congress until September 17.
She continued, “Over the past several weeks, there have been startling new revelations about the scope and gravity of operational changes you are implementing at hundreds of postal facilities without consulting adequately with Congress, the Postal Regulatory Commission, or the Board of Governors.”
“Your testimony is particularly urgent given the troubling influx of reports of widespread delays at postal facilities across the country—as well as President Trump’s explicit admission last week that he has been blocking critical coronavirus funding for the Postal Service in order to impair mail-in voting efforts for the upcoming elections in November,” she added.
The hearing is scheduled for August 24, at 10 a.m., just days after a deadline for DeJoy to produce documents — requested by Congressional Democrats — about operational at his agency.
Additionally, Maloney noted the hearing would take place before the Republican National Convention is scheduled to kick-off.
Read the letter below:
House Oversight committee invites Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to testify Aug 24 —> asks him to produce docs by Friday Aug 21 pic.twitter.com/GkJZUW48Jm
— Katherine Faulders (@KFaulders) August 16, 2020
Congressional Democrats have repeatedly raised concerns that President Donald Trump is intentionally trying to sabotage the Postal Service’s ability to handle the expected surge of mail-in ballots ahead of the November general election.
DeJoy recently announced new sweeping operational changes he intended to implement to cut costs for the cash-strapped agency.
However, the Postal Service has warned that the new changes could lead to delays in mail delivery and warned that it might not be able to deliver mail-ballots ahead of the deadline for the general election in November in some states.