DeJoy said he can’t commit to sharing election readiness plan with the Senate by Sunday.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee Friday, after slow mail delivery ahead of the presidential election became a major national concern.
Friday’s hearing was the first time that DeJoy, a former logistics executive and Trump megadonor, has appeared before Congress since beginning a massive overhaul at the United States Postal Service (USPS).
Democrats pressed DeJoy for failing to respond in a timely manner to their requests for more information about the mail slow down, especially as they heard from thousands of their constituents about delayed medicine, Social Security checks, and other vital items in the mail.
“These are real concerns I’m hearing. These are not manufactured. These are people who are coming forward talking about delays, talking about medicine that is not available for them,” Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) said. Peters is the top Democrat on the committee.
“I know you have a very hard job, and frankly, I think you’ve made it harder on yourself because of the lack of transparency we’ve seen these last few weeks,” Peters added.
Peters also ran through a list of Trump administration and campaign officials, asking DeJoy if he had communicated with any of them about his plans to reduce mail processing capacity. DeJoy said he had not, besides a vague reference to a “plan” when securing funding from Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
Sen. Tom Carper, a Democrat from Delaware, also pressed DeJoy for his lack of response and transparency.
“With all due respect to our postmaster,” Carper said, “I reached out to you when you were initially selected. … I tried to reach you again and again for weeks.”
The USPS has been in billions of dollars of debt for years, in large part due to funding requirements for the entity’s retiree health pension. The coronavirus pandemic brought additional falling revenues for the agency, and DeJoy, was appointed Postmaster General in May to help deal with the crushing deficit and create a plan for its future.
But Dejoy’s “cost-saving” techniques included cutting overtime, prohibiting extra mail-delivery trips and removing mail sorting machines, among other changes that have led to drastic slow downs in mail delivery. To make matters worse, those changes came as states started preparing for a massive influx of absentee voting ballots to help Americans safely vote in the midst of the pandemic.
After massive public outcry, Dejoy said he would suspend his “cost-saving” policies before the election, but lawmakers have speculated that the changes were made specifically to slow down the mail and influence the election.
During the hearing, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) pushed DeJoy to share a comprehensive, detailed plan showing how he will “utilize additional resources” to ensure all election mail is delivered on time. DeJoy pledged to use those resources in writing last week.
DeJoy said he could share the plan, but said it would not be ready by Sunday night.
“We’re just putting these committees together,” he said. “I have to check and will get back to you,” DeJoy said.
During the questioning, Dejoy explained that he supports mail-in voting and said that he plans to vote by mail this fall. He also strongly encouraged the American people to vote early if they can due to the influx on the mail system and the sometimes short turnaround time for post office workers to get ballots to the proper location.
“I think the American public should be able to vote-by-mail, and the Postal Service will support it,” he said. Dejoy went on to try to assure the committee that USPS will be able to handle the election. “As we head into the election season, I want to assure this committee, and the American public, that the Postal Service is fully capable of delivering the nation’s election mail securely and on time.”
Dejoy also said USPS will prioritize election mail, “in some cases ahead of first-class mail.” He also promised lawmakers that postal workers would not issue special charges for election-related mail.
During the hearing Dejoy also confirmed that he is planning big changes for the USPS after the election. He called them “dramatic changes” that would make the agency more financially sustainable. The changes Dejoy is considering include costlier service to remote or out of the way parts of the country, decreasing mail delivery standards, and hiking prices.
Elle Meyers Elle Meyers is a Congressional Reporter for COURIER where she covers national politics and lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Previously Elle was a beat reporter in Montgomery County, Maryland and she is a native of Portland.
