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Norton Raises Questions about Deliberate Steps to Undercut Postal Service During Press Conference at Postal Headquarters, Today

August 18, 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, indicated a number of questions she will ask DeJoy.

"I will want to know why D.C. and 46 states have received warnings from the Postal Service that it cannot guarantee that our mail-in ballots will arrive in time to be counted," Norton said.

Norton's full statement at the press conference, as prepared for delivery, follows:

"As a senior member of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, which has jurisdiction over the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), I want to emphasize what I believe is the most important section of our pending bill to reform the postal service, the Delivering for America Act. The bill would bar the new USPS leadership from making the changes it is undertaking to postal operations or levels of service that were in place on January 1, 2020.

"This status quo pause of abrupt changes underway at the USPS is essential to avoid an indelible scar on our free elections that will feature mail-in ballots this year. The United States had a successful election even during the Civil War, but as experience from the primaries predicts, we are headed for pandemonium in the November elections that may leave lasting uncertainty.

"The USPS, which enjoys a 90% approval rating, was performing heroically until President Trump appointed the new Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, who will appear before our committee on Monday.

"Since DeJoy's appointment, here in the nation's capital we have had reports of no delivery of mail for two weeks in Ward 8, and I am now engaged in a ward-by-ward investigation. These lapses in delivery, which have been experienced nationwide since "DeJoy's appointment, have led the Speaker to call back the House for an emergency session on Saturday.

"During our hearing on Monday, I will question DeJoy about a July 15 memorandum directing employees to leave mail behind in distribution centers and to significantly cut the overtime needed for that distribution.

"I will question him about an August 7 memorandum that criticized how the reassignment of 23 executives would sideline decades of institutional knowledge if authority was centralized around him.

"I will want to know why my district and 46 states have received warnings from the Postal Service that it cannot guarantee that all mail ballots will arrive on time to be counted.

"Trump is trying to sabotage mail-in voting. It falls to the legislative branch to take the action necessary to preserve democratic elections."

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