The House of Representatives, on Saturday, voted to release $25 billion in emergency assistance to the U.S. Postal Service while reversing recent cost-reducing changes that have dragged down service prior to the November election.
The proposal passed 257-150 in the Democratic-dominated House, gaining support from Republicans who worried about mail not arriving on time. The measure is expected to be heavily criticized in the GOP-controlled Senate.
However, the move did not sit well with the White House, who disclosed in a veto threat Friday evening that USPS "does not need a $25 billion bailout." What the USPS needs, it said, are reforms that will put the group back to a trend of long-term financial self-reliance.
Over 24 Republicans gave their nod to the bill, which U.S. President Donald Trump said he would reject if the bill makes it through the Senate. Before the vote Saturday, Trump tweeted and called it "another hoax by the Democrats." Asked about her thoughts about the president's tweet, Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said that Trump says everything is a hoax "because he is a hoax" himself.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who is a Republican fundraiser donor to Trump's election campaign, said the bill which includes decommissioning mail sorting equipment and community collection mailboxes and reducing workers' overtime pay, were carried out to cut operational expenses at USPS, which has suffered huge sales declines in the past years.
But, the "Delivering for America Act," which requires all election mail to be prioritized as "first-class mail," restricts the elimination of mail-sorting equipment and mailboxes, and change any revisions that could hamper the delivery of mail.
Prior to the House voting, Pelosi told members of the media on Capitol Hill that DeJoy's pledge to reverse some of the changes he imposed in USPS should be taken with a grain of salt. According to the California lawmaker, DeJoy's statements don't jive with his actions. For Republican Congressman Drew Ferguson of Georgia, the bill is a fraud and not needed at the moment.
Senate leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has indicated he is open to further funding for USPS, but not as an autonomous bill. The Republican senator has called for smaller funding to form part of a bigger pandemic stimulus bill.
Meanwhile, Trump has reasserted that the upcoming election could be rigged because of the mail-in votes, even alleging that China and Russia could falsify U.S. ballots. Last month, Trump said the November polls will be the "greatest election disaster in history."
