Haaland Votes to Save the U.S. Postal Service the From Trump Administration’s Assaults on Vital Services

Washington, D.C. – Today, with the U.S. Postal Service under assault from the Trump Administration, Congresswoman Deb Haaland voted to pass H.R. 8015, the Delivering for America Act. The Delivering for America Act provides $25 billion in critical funding for the Postal Service – the same level of funding recommended by the USPS Board of Governors, which is composed of 100 percent President Trump appointees. The bill also requires the Postal Service to return to the Postal Service operations and levels of service that were in place on January 1, 2020 throughout the duration of the coronavirus public health emergency and requires all election mail to be treated as First-Class mail. The bill passed the U.S. House this evening.

The vote comes at the same time as newly uncovered internal Postal Service documents warning Postmaster General DeJoy about increasing delays nationwide over the last two months, delays that are far worse than originally believed.  Yet, despite the urgent need for action, Congressional Republicans and the Trump Administration have repeatedly claimed that there are “no delays” with the mail and “no data,” suggesting the delays are no more than “conspiracy theories.”  

“The Postal Service delivers life-saving prescriptions, Social Security benefits, paychecks, tax returns and ballots to New Mexico families, nonetheless President Trump and Postmaster General DeJoy waged a harmful campaign to delay mail delivery in the middle of a pandemic in an effort to sabotage the election and disenfranchise voters,” said Congresswoman Deb Haaland.  “We took action alongside the American people demanding a stop to this sabotage, and forced Postmaster General DeJoy to announce a so-called ‘pause,’ but he has no intention of replacing the sorting machines, blue mailboxes and other infrastructure that were removed.  To ensure New Mexico’s veterans, seniors, families and small businesses who depend on the Post Office still receive timely mail, I voted to pass the Delivering for America Act today.”

The Delivering for America Act would prohibit:

• Any change that would generally affect service on a nationwide or substantially nationwide basis;
• Any revision of existing service standards;
• Closing, consolidating or reducing the hours of any post office or postal facility;
• Any prohibition on paying overtime to Postal Service officers or employees;
• Any change that would prevent the Postal Service from meeting its service standards or cause a decline in measurements of performance relative to those standards; and
• Any change that would have the effect of delaying mail or increasing the volume of undelivered mail.

This legislation will also:

• Include $25 billion requested by the Postal Service and supported unanimously and on a bipartisan basis by the Trump-appointed Postal Board of Governors;
• Require the Postal Service to treat all official election mail as First-Class mail;
• Prohibit the removal, decommissioning or other stoppage of mail sorting machines, other than for routine maintenance;
• Prohibit the removal of mailboxes; and
• Explicitly reverse any changes already implemented to the operations or policies of the Postal Service that delay mail delivery.

At a press conference in Albuquerque on Tuesday, Haaland demanded a stop to the tactics sabotaging the United States Postal Service that jeopardize New Mexicans’ access to basic services and voting rights. 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, which still has the potential delay critical services for New Mexicans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Wednesday, Haaland joined 90 House Democrats demanding that the USPS Board of Governors remove Postmaster General Louis DeJoy from his position immediately. The letter outlines the numerous destructive changes DeJoy has implemented, including removing mail sorting machines in Albuquerque, as well as his several conflicts of interest with investments in USPS competitors and contractors.

And on Monday, August 24, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform will hold an urgent hearing with Postmaster General DeJoy to answer to the American people as to why he is pushing these dangerous new policies that threaten the health of Americans during a pandemic and silence the voices of millions just months before the election. 

# # #