Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has agreed to testify before the House Oversight Committee next Monday amid changes he’s making at the Postal Service that have triggered a nationwide uproar.
The chairman of the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors, Robert Duncan, has also agreed to testify, per the Oversight Committee. The hearing will start at 10:00 AM E.T.
“The American people want their mail, medicines, and mail-in ballots delivered in a timely way, and they certainly do not want drastic changes and delays in the midst of a global pandemic just months before the election,” wrote Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) in a statement with news of the testimony.
Democrats were not being blasé about their demand for DeJoy to agree to testify by Monday — Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN), a more moderate member, expressed his desire for DeJoy to be arrested by the House Sergeant at Arms if he refused to appear.
We need to subpoena the Postmaster General, and if he fails to appear, we should send the Sgt at Arms to arrest him.
— Jim Cooper (@repjimcooper) August 15, 2020
Maloney also mentioned that she was looking forward to Duncan’s production of documents requested by a slew of top Democrats last week. In a ten-page letter, the Democrats laid out the changes DeJoy is implementing, and the chaos they could cause, not least on the administration of what is expected to be a mail-heavy election.
“Rather than strongly advocating for the Postal Service’s request for emergency funding, it appears that you are now using funding shortfalls — which are being aggravated by the President himself — to justify sweeping operational changes that experts warn could degrade delivery standards, slow the mail, jeopardize crucial deliveries such as prescription medicines and essential goods, and potentially impair the rights of eligible Americans to cast their votes through the mail in the upcoming November elections,” the Democrats wrote, requesting the documents by Friday, August 21.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) recalled her members to Washington on Sunday so they can vote in an emergency session to block DeJoy’s overhaul of the USPS. The House will convene on Saturday at 10:00 AM E.T., with votes expected to begin an hour afterwards, per House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s (D-MD) office.
