The House Oversight Committee has called the postmaster general to testify in an “urgent” hearing on Aug. 24.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a few other prominent Democrats issued a statement on Sunday announcing that the committee is requesting that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and the chairman of the U.S. Postal Service’s board of governors, Robert Duncan, appear before the committee next week.
The U.S. Postal Service has been making many changes to its operations recently, worrying some about what the adjustments could mean for the November election.
“The President has explicitly stated his intention to manipulate the Postal Service to deny eligible voters access to the ballot in pursuit of his own re-election,” the statement from lawmakers read. “Alarmingly, the Postmaster General – a Trump mega-donor – has acted as an accomplice in the President’s campaign to cheat in the election, as he launches sweeping new operational changes that degrade delivery standards and delay the mail.”
The postal service has warned 46 states that it may not be able to deliver mail-in ballots in time to be counted.
President Trump, who has voiced concerns about increasing mail-in voting during the pandemic, has expressed opposition to providing additional funding to the U.S. Postal Service via a new coronavirus relief package.
At the end of July, the USPS was given a loan of $10 billion by the Trump administration, but the service said that won’t be enough.
“The Postal Service, however, remains on an unsustainable path and we will continue to focus on improving operational efficiency and pursuing other reforms in order to put the Postal Service on a trajectory for long-term financial stability,” DeJoy said in a statement.
