Aug 3, 2020 - Politics & Policy

House Democrats call postmaster general to testify on USPS changes under Trump

Orion Rummler

USPS sign next to a woman opening a post office door — The LeDroit Park post office in Washington, D.C. on May 28. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

The House Oversight Committee has asked Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, appointed by President Trump in May, to testify on Sept. 17 on changes made to the U.S. Postal Service under the Trump administration.

Why it matters: USPS mail has seen days of backlogs and delays after DeJoy, a former fundraiser for Trump and the Republican National Committee, enacted new cost-cutting procedures that took effect in mid-July, the Washington Post reports.

The big picture: Voting rights groups have said that USPS delays could be a "recipe for disaster" as many states push for mail-in voting as the safest option for November's election, according to the New York Times.

Trump has railed against the reliability of mail-in voting and claimed, without evidence, that the election will be rigged if widespread mail-in ballots are allowed.

What they're saying: "While these changes in a normal year would be drastic, in a presidential election year when many states are relying heavily on absentee mail-in ballots, increases in mail delivery timing would impair the ability of ballots to be received and counted in a timely manner—an unacceptable outcome for a free and fair election,” the committee wrote to DeJoy in a letter on July 20.

Add Axios on Google

House Democrats call postmaster general to testify on USPS changes under Trump

What to read next