Postal Service chief, under fire, admits ‘unintended consequences’ of his policy overhaul

Worries about the election have only grown this week amid reports of USPS warning states that it cannot guarantee all mail-in ballots will arrive in time to be counted in the presidential race.

Forty-six states and Washington, D.C., have received letters from the agency’s general counsel, Thomas J. Marshall, The Washington Post reported Friday. The letters were issued at the end of July and planned before DeJoy was selected as the new postmaster general, according to the newspaper.

In remarks at the Postal Service Board of Governors open session meeting last week, DeJoy insisted that USPS has “ample capacity to deliver all election mail securely and on-time in accordance with our delivery standards, and we will do so.”

DeJoy is a major donor to Republicans and committees supporting President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly claimed widespread mail-in voting will lead to a fraudulent election.

Federal funding for the Post Office has become a central sticking point in the White House’s negotiations with Democrats over an additional coronavirus relief package. Democrats propose another round of stimulus should include $25 billion for the Postal Service, as well as $3.6 billion in election funding.

Trump has said he opposes those items and has suggested he can quash efforts to expand mail-in voting by denying those funds.

But at a White House press briefing Friday, Trump said he was open to reaching an agreement on the funding if Democrats “give us what we want.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the top Democrats in Congress, who had been locked in negotiations with the White House before talks fell apart, said in a statement later Friday that Trump’s comments “affirm that no patriotic tradition is immune from his abuse of power.”

“The President made plain that he will manipulate the operations of the Post Office to deny eligible voters the ballot in pursuit of his own re-election,” the statement said. “The President’s own words confirm: he needs to cheat to win.”

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/14/postal-service-chief-under-fire-admits-unintended-consequences-of-his-policy-overhaul.html