By Nancy Thorner & Ed Ingold -
Even though the Democrat and Republican political conventions are now part of history, the US Post Office remains an issue in the period before the November 3rd election.
On Saturday, August 22, 2020, 26 House Republicans joined House Democrats to vote for a $25 billion bill for emergency funding for the post office, while blocking operational changes that have slowed down service ahead of the election. Is the post office even in need of funding?
Trump credited the move as a reaction to over-sensationalism by the media. Even though the bill was passed in the House, McConnell has indicated that it will die in the Senate. President Trump has also indicated that he will veto the bill.
The “Delivering for America Act” would require that all official election mail be treated as "first-class mail," prohibit the removal of mail sorting machines and mailboxes, and reverse any already implemented changes that could delay mail delivery.
After the bill was passed, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the bill was an attempt to hold DeJoy to his commitment to deliver b allots after his "ambiguous" testimony
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has been accused of engineering changes at the agency in an effort to sow distrust in mail-in voting and impact the results of the election as Americans are expected to vote by mail in unprecedented numbers amid the coronavirus pandemic.
DeJoy, testifying before the Senate on Friday, August 21st, called the accusations against him "outrageous" and said changes to the Postal Service were necessary to address its poor finances DeJoy also said the agency is "fully capable" of delivering ballots in a timely fashion this fall and committed to stopping additional operational changes ahead of the election
Most Republicans deny the need for new funding and policy changes and accused Democrats of turning the post office into a political football."This bill is a sham, it is a shame, it is not needed right now," Rep. Drew Ferguson, R-Ga., said on the House floor Saturday.
"It's not a real crisis," said House Republican Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., after calling Democrats' concerns a "conspiracy theory" in a tweet.
Moments after the House officially passed its bill, McConnell issued a statement calling the bill a "stunt" and stating that the Senate will not pass it.
"They'll be hearing from their constituents because this hits home — not receiving your mail in a timely fashion hits home," Pelosi said of Senate Republicans. "Not receiving
your prescriptions, especially for our veterans, hits home in a way that is harmful to our country."
The scandal defined
The Post Office Scandal is manufactured by the Democrats and their allies in the liberal media. To a large part, it is simply another way to seize on an ordinary situation, call it an evil conspiracy, and blame the President for it. Straw Man – Straw Scandal. They are frustrated that their scheme to replace in-person voting with mail-in ballots is stalled, despite the problems seen in Nevada, New Jersey and New York, where it was instituted with little planning. “No evidence of fraud” does not mean no fraud, merely everyone is looking the other way. Is it a disaster in the making? Not on the part of the Postal Service. The Postal Service handles nearly 4x as much mail in a single day as expected for the entire season of increased mail-in voting.
In a conspiratorial moment, the Democrats may see an election disaster looming. If they lose, it is “voter suppression” or “fraud.” Based on recent experience, the election may not be decided for months. If no simple majority is established in the Electoral College by January 21, Congress decides according to the 12 th Amendment. The House chooses the President from the top three candidates, and the Senate the Vice President from the top two, without regard for party or plurality. The Constitution does not give allowance for the cause of the delay. It’s no stretch of imagination that litigation could delay a contested election beyond that deadline. Who would benefit?
Why must the Postal Service be revamped?
The facts cited below define the problems:
- The Postal Service lost $35.4 B in 2019, about 20% of its revenue. An ordinary business would have gone bankrupt years ago.
- That loss is said to be at no cost to taxpayers, which is misleading. The cost is buried in a growing stack of IOU’s.
- Sorting machines are designed to handle large volumes of mail addressed to facilitate automated sorting.
- Bulk mail has decreased by 80% in the last five years. Sorting machines are only 35% utilized.
- Most first class mail must be sorted by hand, but that volume is much lower thanks to the internet and automated banking.
- The Postal Services must handle a rapidly increasing number of packages. The space occupied by underutilized machines is better used for handling packages.
- The use of overtime has been institutionalized in the Postal Service. A short-term solution to staffing has become the new long term solution.
- Postal employees like the extra income and come to rely on it. Policy has been unchanged despite the drop in volume.
- The new Postmaster thinks reliance on overtime is excessive.
- Postal employees are represented by at least 7 labor organizations. Reduction in overtime is meeting resistance, as is the use of temporary staffing to meet short-term needs.
Is a bailout needed?
As Rep. James Comer, R-Ky. argued during a a House Rules Committee meeting on Friday, August 21st:
"House legislation to bail out the U.S. Postal Service favors unions that support the Democratic Party and could prompt a flood of lawsuits.
“This bill does nothing to help the Postal Service modernize and improve its services. In fact, it prevents the Post Office from doing anything to address operational issues and subjects it to a never-ending string of potential lawsuits.”
“There’s been talk about whether the Postal Service needs a bailout for some months now, but the Postal Service’s own financials show it is not in need of such funding,” he added.
Comer said Democrats and their “union-task masters” oppose Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s efforts to reform the Postal Service and its “broken business model.”
“Democrats want to dump billions of tax dollars into a broken system that they are now handcuffing through the rest of the pandemic,” he said. “The Delivering for America Act does not deliver for all Americans but it does favor Democrat-backed unions.”
Comer pointed out that 12,000 mailboxes were removed during the Obama years but said he didn’t hear Democrats outraged at the time.
