August 13, 2020 - Washington, D.C. – In a new letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Committee on Oversight and Reform Chairwoman 
Carolyn Maloney and 173 other House Democrats today called for the reversal of policies that have worsened the crisis facing the Postal Service and exacerbated a dramatic increase in delayed and undelivered mail.
In the letter, the Members wrote, “[T]he United States Postal Service is a pillar of our American Democracy that is enshrined in the Constitution, which empowers Congress to ‘establish Post Offices and Post Roads.’ The Postal Service provides critical services for the American people: delivering medicine to seniors, paychecks to workers, tax refunds to millions and absentee ballots to voters.
“It is always essential that the Postal Service be able to deliver mail in a timely and effective manner. During the once-in-a-century health and economic crisis of COVID-19, the Postal Service’s smooth functioning is a matter of life-or-death, and is critical for protecting lives, livelihoods and the life of our American Democracy.”
Below is the text of the letter to the Postmaster General.
* * *
August 12, 2020
Louis DeJoy
Postmaster General
U.S. Postal Service
475 L’Enfant Plaza West, S.W.
Washington, DC 20260
Dear Postmaster General:
We write to follow up on the letter that was sent on August 6 to you regarding many serious concerns about operational changes that you have implemented since assuming the position of Postmaster General, which have worsened the crisis facing the Postal Service, and specifically have exacerbated a dramatic increase in delayed and undelivered mail impacting mail delivery times and quality of service for Americans. We wrote last week, and sadly, the letter sent today to the Oversight Committee is insufficient.
As you know, the United States Postal Service is a pillar of our American Democracy that is enshrined in the Constitution, which empowers Congress to “establish Post Offices and Post Roads.” The Postal Service provides critical services for the American people: delivering medicine to seniors, paychecks to workers, tax refunds to millions and absentee ballots to voters.
It is always essential that the Postal Service be able to deliver mail in a timely and effective manner. During the once-in-a-century health and economic crisis of COVID-19, the Postal Service’s smooth functioning is a matter of life-or-death, and is critical for protecting lives, livelihoods and the life of our American Democracy.
The House is seriously concerned that you are implementing policies that accelerate the crisis at the Postal Service, including directing Post Offices to no longer treat all election mail as First Class. If implemented now, as the election approaches, this policy will cause further delays to election mail that will disenfranchise voters and put significant financial pressure on election jurisdictions. Because many states have traditionally allowed voters to request absentee ballot applications and absentee ballots within a few days of the election, it is essential that standard delivery times remain short and pricing remain consistent.
We also remain concerned about a significant operational restructuring, done without any apparent analysis and consultation, which will weaken the ability of the Postal Service to respond to local needs. These changes were made without sufficient consultation with Congress, and include reductions of overtime availability, restrictions on extra mail transportation trips, testing of new mail sorting and delivery policies at hundreds of Post Offices, and the reduction of the number and use of processing equipment at mail processing plants. These changes compound the operational and service delays that you have instituted.
During our meeting with Leader Schumer on August 5, you committed to greater transparency and accountability with the Congress and the American people regarding the changes that you have made, which directly reach into the lives of the American people. We remind you of your pledge to provide documentation of the operational changes that you have and are currently making, and of the Postal Service’s plan to successfully deliver election mail during the 2020 elections.
The Postal Service motto states, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” Let us keep the promise provided for in the Constitution to the American people.
We await your swift reply.
Sincerely,
1. Nancy Pelosi
2. Carolyn B. Maloney
3. Steny H. Hoyer
4. James E. Clyburn
5. Ben Ray Luján
6. Hakeem Jeffries
7. Katherine Clark
8. Cheri Bustos
9. Donald Norcross
10. David N. Cicilline
11. Debbie Dingell
12. Matt Cartwright
13. Barbara Lee
14. Eric Swalwell
15. Jamie Raskin
16. Veronica Escobar
17. Joe Neguse
18. Eddie Bernice Johnson
19. Peter A. DeFazio
20. Theodore E. Deutch
21. Eliot L. Engel
22. Raúl M. Grijalva
23. Zoe Lofgren
24. Nita Lowey
25. James P. McGovern
26. Jerrold Nadler
27. Richard E. Neal
28. Frank Pallone, Jr.
29. Adam Schiff
30. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott
31. Adam Smith
32. Mark Takano
33. Bennie G. Thompson
34. Nydia M. Velázquez
35. John Yarmuth
36. Alma S. Adams, Ph.D.
37. Pete Aguilar
38. Colin Allred
39. Cindy Axne
40. Nanette Diaz Barragán
41. Donald S. Beyer Jr.
42. Sanford D. Bishop, Jr.
43. Earl Blumenauer
44. Lisa Blunt Rochester
45. Suzanne Bonamici
46. Brendan F. Boyle
47. Anthony G. Brown
48. Julia Brownley
49. Salud O. Carbajal
50. Tony Cárdenas
51. André Carson
52. Ed Case
53. Sean Casten
54. Joaquin Castro
55. Judy Chu
56. Gilbert R. Cisneros, Jr.
57. Emanuel Cleaver, II
58. Gerald E. Connolly
59. Jim Costa
60. Joe Courtney
61. TJ Cox
62. Angie Craig
63. Charlie Crist
64. Jason Crow
65. Danny K. Davis
66. Susan Davis
67. Madeleine Dean
68. Diana DeGette
69. Suzan Delbene
70. Val Demings
71. Mark DeSaulnier
72. Lloyd Doggett
73. Mike Doyle
74. Anna G. Eshoo
75. Dwight Evans
76. Abby Finkenauer
77. Lizzie Fletcher
78. Bill Foster
79. Marcia L. Fudge
80. Ruben Gallego
81. John Garamendi
82. Sylvia Garcia
83. Jimmy Gomez
84. Deb Haaland
85. Alcee L. Hastings
86. Jahana Hayes
87. Denny Heck
88. Brian Higgins
89. Jim Himes
90. Eleanor Holmes Norton
91. Steven Horsford
92. Jared Huffman
93. Sheila Jackson Lee
94. Pramila Jayapal
95. Marcy Kaptur
96. Robin L. Kelly
97. Joseph P. Kennedy, III
98. Dan Kildee
99. Derek Kilmer
100. Andy Kim
101. Raja Krishnamoorthi
102. Ann McLane Kuster
103. Conor Lamb
104. James R. Langevin
105. Rick Larsen
106. John B. Larson
107. Brenda L. Lawrence
108. Mike Levin
109. Andy Levin
110. Daniel W. Lipinski
111. Dave Loebsack
112. Alan Lowenthal
113. Stephen F. Lynch
114. Tom Malinowski
115. Sean Patrick Maloney
116. Doris Matsui
117. Betty McCollum
118. A. Donald McEachin
119. Jerry McNerney
120. Kweisi Mfume
121. Gwen Moore
122. Joseph D. Morelle
123. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell
124. Grace F. Napolitano
125. Tom O’Halleran
126. Ilhan Omar
127. Jimmy Panetta
128. Chris Pappas
129. Bill Pascrell, Jr.
130. Donald M. Payne, Jr.
131. Ed Perlmutter
132. Chellie Pingree
133. Stacey E. Plaskett
134. Mark Pocan
135. Ayanna Pressley
136. David Price
137. Mike Quigley
138. Kathleen Rice
139. Cedric Richmond
140. Max Rose
141. Harley Rouda
142. Dutch Ruppersberger
143. Bobby L. Rush
144. Tim Ryan
145. Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan
146. Linda T. Sánchez
147. John P. Sarbanes
148. Mary Gay Scanlon
149. Jan Schakowsky
150. Brad Schneider
151. David Scott
152. José Serrano
153. Donna E. Shalala
154. Brad Sherman
155. Mikie Sherrill
156. Albio Sires
157. Elissa Slotkin
158. Jackie Speier
159. Greg Stanton
160. Thomas R. Suozzi
161. Mike Thompson
162. Dina Titus
163. Rashida Tlaib
164. Paul D. Tonko
165. Norma J. Torres
166. Lori Trahan
167. David Trone
168. Marc Veasey
169. Filemon Vela
170. Debbie Wasserman Schultz
171. Bonnie Watson Coleman
172. Peter Welch
173. Jennifer Wexton
174. Susan Wild
175. Frederica S. Wilson
Source: Speaker Nancy Pelosi
