The House Oversight Committee will be issuing a subpoena targeting the Trump-allied Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, after DeJoy refused to provide documents about recent operational changes at the Postal Service that the committee had demanded. The requested documents, as The Washington Post summarizes, include “any analysis the Postal Service ran on the [effect] of the operational changes DeJoy instituted at the agency.” Those changes have included reported cuts to overtime availability and the removal of mail sorting machines from facilities across the country, among other developments. The demanded documents also cover “previously undisclosed communications between DeJoy and the Trump campaign,” as the Oversight Committee itself noted.
Breaking: Today, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, the Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, sent a memorandum notifying all Committee Members of her intent to issue a subpoena to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy for documents he has been withholding from Congress.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 31, 2020
DeJoy’s policy and operations changes have sparked significant slowdowns in Postal Service operations across the country, which, among other potential negative ramifications, could negatively impact the ability for the Postal Service and election authorities to effectively handle mail-in ballots in the upcoming presidential election. During a recent Fox interview, Trump himself openly noted the fact that a hit to Postal Service operations could significantly hamper the usage of mail-in ballots, and he’s already been complaining about supposed problems with mail-in ballots for awhile. In reality, he might simply be paranoid about the possibility of losing the upcoming election if Americans have the chance to truly make their voices heard.
Although DeJoy recently announced that he’d supposedly be pausing operations changes at the Postal Service, he told House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in a recent meeting that he did not actually intend to take steps like putting mail sorting machines back that had been taken out of commission. On August 19, Pelosi said that DeJoy “frankly admitted that he had no intention of replacing the sorting machines, blue mailboxes and other key mail infrastructure that have been removed and that plans for adequate overtime, which is critical for the timely delivery of mail, are not in the works.”
Recently, the House passed legislation called the Delivering for America Act, which, if fully enacted, would prohibit major updates to the policy and operations protocols that were in effect on January 1 of this year and would also provide the Postal Service with $25 billion in apparent cash assistance, which the agency’s own Board of Governors indicated earlier this year would be needed. The Republican-led Senate has refused to move on that bill or similar legislation.
