Haaland, Luján Demand a Stop to USPS Sabotage that Jeopardizes New Mexicans’ Access to Basic Services, Voting Rights

During National Day of Action, USPS Postmaster General Delays Changes Until After the 2020 Election

Albuquerque, N.M. – During a press conference in Albuquerque today, Congresswoman Deb Haaland (NM-01) and Assistant Speaker Ben Ray Luján (NM-03) demanded a stop to the tactics sabotaging the United States Postal Service that jeopardize New Mexicans’ access to basic services and voting rights. The press conference was part of a national day of action calling for an end to President Trump and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s harmful operational changes that degrade postal service, delay the mail and threaten to deny the ability of eligible Americans to cast their votes through the mail in the upcoming elections in a timely fashion. All of these changes would also impact critical services like delivering prescriptions, Social Security benefits, paychecks, tax returns and absentee ballots to millions of Americans, including in New Mexico’s most remote communities.

At the press conference today, the President of the American Postal Worker Union revealed that the new programs to limit overtime, leave mail at sorting locations, and take away mail sorting machines were occurring in New Mexico. Bernalillo County Clerk Linda Stover shared how voters can cast their ballots securely and confidently and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Cole Hensley shared how much active-duty service members rely on the postal service to receive care packages and send letters while they’re overseas.

It was during the National Day of Action, that USPS Postmaster General announced that he would delay the dangerous changes to the USPS operations until after the 2020 election.

“When the people ring the alarm and Congressional leaders take action to protect our workers and our democracy we can’t lose. Though I’m glad the Postmaster General is delaying these harmful changes, it stops short of what needs to happen to ensure families get their medications, their social security checks, birthday cards and tax refunds on time, during this pandemic and always. That’s why we’re still going to vote on our bill this weekend,” said Congresswoman Deb Haaland.

“Postmaster General DeJoy could no longer ignore the American people’s calls to protect the U.S. Postal Service. His efforts to clean up his mess don't go far enough; he must reverse the changes that have already led to delays in the delivery of life-saving medicines, our parents’ and grandparents’ Social Security checks, and more,” said Assistant Speaker Luján. “House Democrats will be voting on legislation later this week to prohibit these ill-intentioned changes and provide $25 billion in emergency funding to ensure USPS can continue serving the American people effectively and efficiently during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Later this week, the House will return to session to vote on Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Maloney’s ‘Delivering for America Act,’ which provides $25 billion in critical funding to support the Postal Service and prohibits the Postal Service from implementing any changes to operations or level of service it had in place on January 1, 2020.