Senate V Trump: Postal Service and Mail Voting

The Postal Service in America has come into the spotlight recently as the American presidential election draws closer. In the middle of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling the House back into session over the crisis and growing concerns that President Trump, who is running for a second term, is trying to undermine the agency ahead of the election.

The speaker is planning a vote for later this week on the Delivering for America Act, introduced by Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, which “prohibits the Postal Service from implementing any changes to operations or level of service it had in place on January 1, 2020.”

Since taking over in mid-June, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has implemented a series of changes that have sparked a nationwide outcry over delays, new prices, and cutbacks just as millions of Americans will be trying to vote by mail to avoid polling places during the coronavirus outbreak.

Pelosi stated that President Trump was instituting a “campaign to sabotage the election by manipulating the post service to disenfranchise voters.” She also said DeJoy, a major donor to President Trump and Republican campaigns, is pushing to “degrade postal service, delay the mail, and — according to the Postal Service itself — threaten to deny the ability of eligible Americans to cast their votes through the mail in the upcoming elections in a timely fashion.”

DeJoy, a major Republican donor and ally of the president, has pledged to modernize the money-losing agency to make it more efficient and has eliminated most overtime for postal workers, imposed restrictions on transportation and reduced of the quantity and use of mail-processing equipment.

The attention to the Postal Service has been amplified by President Trump, who has attacked mail-in voting and initially said on Thursday that he opposed more funding for the Postal Service because it would help people vote by mail.