Author: Sam Buisman

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reconvenes lawmakers in an attempt to protect the United States Postal Service from further debilitations. 

On Sunday night, Pelosi ended the House of Representative’s August recess early to summon House members for a vote on the “Delivering for America Act,” which would prevent any further limitations of the Postal Service’s operations if passed. The speaker’s recall aims to reverse the cost-cutting yet mail-slowing actions of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy ahead of what the COVID-19 pandemic may force to be a largely vote-by-mail presidential election. 

In a letter to House colleagues, Pelosi framed these cuts to the Postal Service as a scheme by President Donald Trump to obstruct the 2020 election.

“[A]cross the nation, we see the devastating effects of the President’s campaign to sabotage the election by manipulating the Postal Service to disenfranchise voters,” wrote Pelosi. “Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, one of the top Trump mega-donors, has proven a complicit crony as he continues to push forward sweeping new operational changes that … threaten to deny the ability of eligible Americans to cast their votes through the mail in the upcoming elections in a timely fashion.” 

Under DeJoy, the USPS has banned Postal workers from working overtime and begun removing mail collection and sorting bins across the county, leading to nationwide mail delays. 

These slowdowns have served as a foreboding omen to Pelosi and her Democratic party-members regarding the fall presidential election, in which the continuing severity of the COVID-19 pandemic will likely prompt an unprecedented amount of Americans to vote by mail.

According to NPR, the USPS warned most states that it would not be able to handle their demand for mail-in ballots in time for the fall’s presidential election.