Postmaster general says some changes delayed mail, vows extra effort to get ballots delivered timely; backs 6-day mail - Entrepreneur Generations

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy spoke with a Senate committee in an online meeting. (Associated Press photo)

This story will be updated.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy acknowledged in testimony before a Senate committee this morning that his changes in the U.S. Postal Service have delayed delivery of some mail, but he said he has ordered extra effort to make sure that mail ballots are delivered on time.

DeJoy said that at his first meeting about election mail, he told his subordinates, "Whatever efforts we have, double them. I was very concerned about all the political noise we were hearing." He said USPS will have enough capacity for the expected amount of election mail, and won't require that ballots be first-class mail, thus saving states and localities money, but will treat ballots as first class.

The postmaster general has suspended operational changes until after the election. "I think the American people can feel comfortable that the Postal Service will deliver on this election," he said.

DeJoy told the the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that he won't bring back any sorting machines that have been removed because "they're not needed," given the decline in first-class mail volume. The machines sort letter-size mail; some states use that size for absentee ballots and others do not. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., said the Manchester sorting center now has only one machine, and it broke down yesterday. DeJoy said he didn't know that.

In response to questions, DeJoy said he had never discussed the Postal Service with President Trump, other than a brief conversation in which Trump congratulated him on his appointment by the USPS Board of Governors, or with anyone in the Trump campaign. Asked about Steven Mnuchin, he said he told the Treasury secretary that he had a plan to improve service, but gave "no great detail."

He said he would remain independent of the Trump administration, called "outrageous" assertions that his changes are designed to help the president, who has repeatedly attacked universal mail-in voting but endorsed traditional absentee voting. Trump has opposed giving USPS money to handle mail ballots.

Sen. Gary Stevens, D-Mich., the committee vice chair, said he had been unable to get documents relating to DeJoy's changes, and asked him to provide them by Sunday. DeJoy said he would speak with his staff about that. Another hearing, by a Democrat-controlled House committee, is set for Monday, with testimony from DeJoy and Board of Governors Chair Mike Duncan.

In response to a question from Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, DeJoy said delays have been greater in urban areas "where the coronavirus and the intimidation of the coronavirus" have scared some employees from working, raising absenteeism rates to 20 percent or more in some cities. He said earlier, "We have a significant issue in employee availability in many, many parts of the country."

DeJoy rejected a suggestion by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., that Congress save money by removing the requirement that mail be delivered six says a week, saying that standard maintains a high level of trust between it and the public. "That is probably our biggest strength that we can capitalize on."

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/3l9cgwK Postmaster general says some changes delayed mail, vows extra effort to get ballots delivered timely; backs 6-day mail - Entrepreneur Generations

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