Democrats Press Attacks on Trump Over His Postal Service Moves
Democrats Press Attacks on Trump Over His Postal Service Moves
(Bloomberg) -- Congressional Democrats have launched a multi-tiered offensive against President Donald Trump over the U.S. Postal Service, seizing on an issue that they believe will resonate with voters.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling the House back on Saturday to vote on legislation to halt post office cutbacks and give the agency $25 billion in additional funding. The centerpiece of the campaign may be a House oversight hearing next Monday with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
Republicans are seeking to preempt the House vote and hearing by bringing DeJoy in Friday to appear before the Homeland Security Committee in the GOP-controlled Senate. Although Senate Democrats sought his testimony, the hearing will give the postmaster general a chance to talk about the agency’s finances and his attempts to reconfigure its operations in a forum led by Chairman Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican.
DeJoy, a Trump donor, has recently taken steps, including targeting workers’ overtime and transportation costs, that critics say have led to backlogs and service interruptions just as greater-than-ever-numbers of Americans are expected to vote by mail this November. The Postal Service has issued warnings to 46 states that it may not be able to deliver their ballots on time to be counted.
DeJoy is voluntarily appearing before the committee at the House hearing, which is scheduled for the same day the Republican National Convention gets under way.
He is certain to undergo intense questioning from Oversight Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney of New York and other Democrats on the panel. Maloney also has announced the Postal Service’s inspector general has agreed to probe DeJoy’s recent staffing changes and any conflicts of interest.
Democratic Representatives Hakeem Jeffries of New York and Ted Lieu of California have asked the FBI to investigate DeJoy and the Postal Service’s Board of Governors.
Trump on Monday dismissed Pelosi’s moves as a “con game” and the second-ranking House Republican, Steve Scalise of Louisiana, called the Democrats’ warnings about the Postal Service a “fabricated crisis.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the service “is going to be just fine.”
But the focus on the Postal Service’s problems has made some Senate Republicans, especially those seeking re-election in November, wary. Rural communities rely heavily on the post office, and those areas are core GOP constituencies.
Susan Collins of Maine, one of the most endangered Senate Republicans, tweeted Sunday that the Senate should return to pass a bipartisan $25 billion postal aid package that she and and Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, have sponsored. Her other co-sponsors include Republican Senators Steve Daines of Montana and Cory Gardner of Colorado, both of whom also are vulnerable in November.
“Growing up in Aroostook County, I experienced the essential nature of the post office every day,” Collins wrote in her tweet. “As I wrote to the Postmaster General last week, Mainers are experiencing unacceptable delays in delivery of essential prescriptions, PPE, and payments.”
Pelosi predicted the House bill would get support from at least some Republicans, saying the troubles at the Postal Service have generated a “volcanic” reaction from the public.
“It has been explosive in terms of the response that members, Democratic and Republican, all over the country, have received” because the post office connects Americans, she said on MSNBC.
Along with providing $25 billion to prohibit cutbacks, the House bill to be voted on Saturday would include provisions holding that all official election ballots will be mailed first class, and one that post office boxes or sorting equipment can’t be removed before the election. But any action on the money or service cutbacks by the House on Saturday also would require passage by the Senate, and there was no sign that McConnell intended to call lawmakers in the chamber back from the August break.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows have offered $10 billion in additional Postal Service funding as counteroffer to Democrats as part of negotiations on a broader relief measure. Senate Republicans plan to enshrine that offer in a scaled-down stimulus package that they plan to introduce this week even though negotiations with Democrats are at a standstill.
Trump has complained that the Postal Service has been “run badly” for years and that it’s not charging enough to deliver packages for companies like Amazon Inc. a frequent foil for the president.
Indeed, the Postal Service has been operating in the red – the last time it turned a profit was in 2006, according to the Congressional Research Service. Profits from delivering the mail, like sales of many businesses, have been eroded by the internet.
While complaints about the Postal Service are common, it also is consistently the most popular federal agency with the public in Pew Research Center surveys. Fully 91% of Democrats and Republicans had a favorable view of the Postal Service in Pew’s April poll.
In addition to investigations and legislation, Democrats are holding events at local Post Offices to amplify their concerns. And some Democrats -- including Maloney, the sponsor of the bill to be voted on Saturday -- are also seizing on the issues to raise campaign money.
With the post office emerging as a political issue, Trump repeatedly invokes his campaign theme in telling audiences that better times are ahead for the Postal Service.
“We’re going to make our post office really strong and really great, we’re going to be proud of it again,” Trump told a crowd Monday in Wisconsin, a 2020 swing state.
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