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Norton Highlights Constituents & Postal Workers at Press Conference on Postmaster General’s Interference in Mail Delivery

August 21, 2020

WASHINGTON, D.C. — At a press conference today, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), a senior member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, which will hear from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on Monday, heard from two District of Columbia residents, who also serve as Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, about the personal cost of delayed or missing mail, as well as two postal union representatives about the impact of DeJoy's changes on mail service. In describing the outpouring of concern, Norton introduced the residents by saying, "We won't be able to fix what has gone wrong with the U.S. Postal Service unless we hear from those most affected."

Norton's full statement, as prepared for delivery, follows:

"I am grateful to the D.C. residents represented by our ANC Commissioners and postal workers who have come this afternoon to make sure we understand the full story, indeed the real story, of what is happening at the U.S. Postal Service. The crisis Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has created at the U.S. Postal Service set off a fury of reactions and press conferences from Members of the House and Senate, including in our region and across the country.

"We have heard from almost everyone except the men and women most directly affected by the crisis at the U.S. Postal Service. What has been missing from the discussion are the voices of the people on the front lines, our elected ANC commissioners, and most pointedly, our postal workers, who have shouldered the bulk of the burden the U.S. Postal Service is facing. No wonder they have a 90% approval rating from the American people. So great has been the outpouring that the Postmaster General announced he was pulling back. However, that is not the case, not to the status quo ante.

"DeJoy has admitted that the harm done so far will be left in place, no replacement of sorting machines or of blue mailboxes that have been removed, and no promise for adequate overtime.

"We can still prevent an indelible scar on our free elections that will result from changes at the U.S. Postal Service. We must pass the Delivering for America Act and the $25 billion needed to save the U.S. Postal Service.

"What is needed now is an understanding of what changes at the U.S. Postal Service mean on the ground. What has been the experience in our neighborhoods? What have the changes meant to how postal workers do their jobs? We will not be able to fix what has gone wrong with the U.S. Postal Service unless we hear from those most affected. We are grateful to the ANC Commissioners coming forward today, Commissioner Carmon of Ward 8D and Commissioner Adofo of Ward 8C, and to the two postal worker union representatives who joined us today, Mr. Robinson from the American Postal Workers Union and Mr. Hooks from the National Association of Letter Carriers."

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