House Passes Bill To Boost USPS, 26 Republicans Break Ranks
On Saturday, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passed legislation to boost the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) amid the coronavirus pandemic, The New York Times reported.
The bill would prohibit operational changes and provide the Postal Service with $25 billion in funding in order to ensure that all election-related mail is delivered on time.
Tens of millions of Americans are expected to vote by mail this fall, as the nation struggles to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
Twenty-six Republicans supported the measure, which passed in a 257 to 150 vote. More than 20 GOP lawmakers chose to abstain from voting.
“This is not a partisan issue,” said Democratic New York Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, who is the lead author of the bill.
“It makes absolutely no sense to impose these kinds of dangerous cuts in the middle of a pandemic and just months before the elections in November,” Maloney argued.
Among the 26 Republicans who voted “yes” were moderates, representatives of rural districts and several lawmakers fighting to protect their seats.
One of them, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, said that the USPS needs to be preserved and improved.
“We should be preserving and enhancing U.S.P.S. delivery standards and services, not implementing operational changes that could delay delivery times and undermine quality services that every American depends on.”
Despite bipartisan support in the lower chamber, the bill is all but certain to fail in the GOP-controlled Senate.
In a statement, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell argued that the USPS is “equipped to handle” what is expected to be the largest vote-by-mail operation in American history.
“The Senate will absolutely not pass stand-alone legislation for the Postal Service while American families continue to go without more relief,” McConnell said.
As The New York Times noted, under the leadership of speaker Nancy Pelosi, the House interrupted its summer recess to pass the legislation in the face of postmaster general Louis DeJoy’s attempts to cut costs at the USPS.
According to the publication’s sources, Democrats hope that the maneuver will send a strong message to voters and “tarnish” President Donald Trump, who has spent the past several weeks railing against mail-in voting.
Trump took to Twitter to express opposition to the measure, which he described as a “HOAX.” He claimed that USPS representatives have “repeatedly stated that they DO NOT NEED MONEY, and will not make changes.”
Although Trump and his allies have insisted that mail-in voting would result in unprecedented electoral fraud, some GOP strategists believe that the attacks on the USPS could backfire and push senior citizens to vote for Joe Biden, the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee.
