Here’s what you need to know:
- DeJoy defended his tenure as the hearing turned testy.
- Maloney accused DeJoy of carrying out Trump’s efforts to hobble mail-in voting.
- Republicans framed DeJoy as a victim of ‘cancel culture.’
- Trump continues to suggest ‘fraud’ in 2020 mail-in voting.
- Lawmakers want more information about why DeJoy was hired.
- Duncan defends selection of DeJoy.
- DeJoy will face pressure to reverse recent policy changes.
DeJoy defended his tenure as the hearing turned testy.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy defended the cost-cutting measures he had put in place and pushed back against suggestions that the changes were intended to influence the 2020 election by making mail-in voting less reliable.
Mr. DeJoy once again criticized the “false narrative” that he said was being promoted about both his intentions and the changes, which he described as necessary to address the Postal Service’s financial woes but that civil rights groups, state attorneys general and Democrats have derided as an attempt to disenfranchise voters.
Mr. DeJoy told House lawmakers that he did not put in place many of the changes that had caused concern — including the removal of blue mailboxes. He acknowledged that some of the changes he had implemented, such as reducing overtime and limiting trips, had caused delays but said those issues were being rectified.
“Transitions don’t always go smoothly,” he said, adding that while “we are very concerned with the deterioration in service, we’re seeing a big recovery this week.”
Mr. DeJoy continued to insist that many of the problems were not related to the decisions he had made during his 70-day tenure, saying that “there are a lot of reasons for delay other than my actions to run the trucks on time.”
As Democrats attacked the postal head for making changes in the midst of a pandemic and so close to the election, Mr. DeJoy said the timing was right.
“It was summertime, mail volume was down significantly, we’re getting ready for the peak season and the election is three months away. It was a good time to try and start to roll this out,” he said.
Many Democrats were not satisfied with that explanation and the hearing turned testy when Representative Stephen F. Lynch, Democrat of Massachusetts, accused Mr. DeJoy of “incompetence” and asked “how can one person screw this up in just a few weeks?”
After repeatedly asking whether Mr. DeJoy would return the mail sorting machines that have already been removed from post offices, the postal leader barked “I will not.” He then added that Mr. Lynch had spread “misinformation” during his furious monologue.
Mr. DeJoy is embroiled in a political firestorm as recent changes aimed at reducing the Postal Service’s costs — including cutting overtime and limiting trips — have led to delays in mail delivery, including medicine, pension checks and bills. That has fueled concerns about whether the service will be able to handle what is expected to be a record number of mail-in ballots for the 2020 election.
Maloney accused DeJoy of carrying out Trump’s efforts to hobble mail-in voting.
In searing opening remarks, Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, Democrat of New York and the chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee, took aim at Mr. DeJoy, calling the notion that the changes he implemented at the agency would not cause mail delays “incompetence at best.”
“Maybe Mr. DeJoy was warned that his changes would cause delays, but he disregarded those warnings,” Ms. Maloney said. “Or, perhaps there is a far simpler explanation. Perhaps Mr. DeJoy is just doing exactly what President Trump said he wanted on national television — using the blocking of funds to justify sweeping changes to hobble mail-in voting.”
“All of these options are bad,” she concluded.
Other Democrats in the House showed early on in the hearing that they would take a much tougher approach to questioning Mr. DeJoy than their Senate counterparts did on Friday.
Representative Gerald Connolly of Virginia criticized Mr. DeJoy, saying that “six weeks into the complex and awe-inspiring new job in the midst of a global pandemic and just weeks before a consequential national election where the Postal Service will play an unprecedented role, decides to announce a sweeping reorganization that he admits could slow down mail and will undoubtedly infuse uncertainty and confusion throughout the Postal Service and into our neighborhoods all across America.”
Republicans framed DeJoy as a victim of ‘cancel culture.’
In his introduction of Mr. Dejoy, Representative Mark Walker, Republican of North Carolina, accused Democrats of trying to “cancel” Mr. Dejoy for purely partisan reasons.
“How sad is it when the cancel culture has reached the halls of congress,” Mr. Walker said. ‘The man sitting before this committee today is not who the Democrats have villianized him to be. He’s here today because he supported President Trump.”
Other Republicans on the committee struck a similar tone. Representative James R. Comer of Kentucky, the top Republican on the committee, used his opening remarks to chastise Democrats for spreading a “baseless conspiracy theory about the Postal Service” and hastily moving over the weekend to pass legislation that would block some service changes and send the beleaguered agency $25 billion.
He said Mr. DeJoy was taking good-faith steps to cut costs and noted that he took responsibility for the delays — what Mr. Comer called “temporary growing pains.”
He pointed out that the recent removal of blue mailboxes and mail sorting machines were long planned and consistent with actions taken under Mr. DeJoy’s predecessor.
“I am disappointed in the hysterical frenzy being whipped up by the Democrats and their friends in the media,” Mr. Comer said, adding that the Postal Service “has more than adequate capacity to handle the vote by mail.”
Representative Jody Hice, Republican of Georgia, blamed the mail delays on the pandemic, saying “there are thousands of U.S.P.S. workers who are not showing up for work due to Covid-19” adding that “the postmaster general has nothing to do with Covid-19.”
Trump continues to suggest ‘fraud’ in 2020 mail-in voting.
Mr. Trump weighed in during the hearing, reiterating claims he has previously made — without evidence — that mail-in voting will lead to fraud.
“All the Radical Left Democrats are trying to do with the Post Office hearings is blame the Republicans for the FRAUD that will occur because of the 51 Million Ballots that are being sent to people who have not even requested them,” he wrote on Twitter. “They are setting the table for a BIG MESS!”
Mr. Trump has stoked concerns about the validity of mail-in voting ahead of the 2020 election, saying last week that allowing universal voting by mail would lead to people fraudulently casting multiple ballots — a practice that experts say has been exceedingly rare in places where mail-in voting has been common for many years.
Mr. DeJoy acknowledged on Monday that he did not find those comments helpful.
“I have put word around to different people that this is not helpful,” he said, in response to a question from Mr. Connolly about whether he had been in contact with the administration or Mr. Trump about his attacks.
Lawmakers want more information about why DeJoy was hired.
A central line of questioning on Monday is expected to focus on how the board of governors selected Mr. DeJoy, a logistics executive whose name was not on an initial list of candidates provided to the board.
Among the questions lawmakers are likely to ask: What role did Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin play in the search for a new leader? As The Times reported on Saturday, Mr. Mnuchin was a key player in selecting the board members who hired Mr. DeJoy and in pushing the agenda that he has pursued.
[Read more about Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s role in the selection process.]
Late last week, David C. Williams, the former vice chairman of the board of governors, who was appointed by Mr. Trump as a Democratic member of the panel, told House Democrats in scathing testimony that Mr. DeJoy was the least qualified candidate the board interviewed for the job, and that Robert M. Duncan, the chairman of the Postal Service board of governors, had suggested him to the panel.
Mr. Williams also accused Mr. Mnuchin of politicizing the Postal Service, an independent agency whose leader has been walled off from the White House since 1970.
When he resigned from the board in protest on the eve of Mr. DeJoy’s selection, Mr. Williams said that no serious background investigation into the candidate had been conducted — despite his request for one — and that a brief review by the agency’s inspector general had surfaced potential concerns about contract work Mr. DeJoy’s logistics firm had done for the Postal Service.
Duncan defends selection of DeJoy.
Mr. Duncan, the chairman of the Postal Service’s board of governors, also began testifying on Monday, the first public remarks he has given on the state of the embattled agency. Mr. Duncan, who was appointed by President Trump in 2017 and confirmed by the Senate in 2018, oversees the service and spearheaded the selection of Mr. DeJoy, introducing his name into the search process as a contender.
Mr. Duncan, in opening remarks to lawmakers, defended selecting Mr. DeJoy to helm the agency, citing his “deep knowledge” of the Postal Service from his work in the private sector and casting the changes he had implemented as crucial to transforming a flagging institution.
Mr. Duncan said it was crucial that Mr. DeJoy continued to increase the agency’s efficiency and cut down on “unnecessary expenses,” a reference to the cuts to overtime the agency head has instituted.
“Business as usual is not an option,” Mr. Duncan said.
DeJoy will face pressure to reverse recent policy changes.
Mr. DeJoy’s decision last week to suspend cost-cutting and other operational changes until after the November election has done little to mollify critics, including union officials and postal workers, who say some of the changes already put in place have done grave damage to the Postal Service.
Democrats pushed Mr. DeJoy to commit to reversing the moves.
Lawmakers, along with state attorneys general, have expressed concern over the elimination of overtime, the removal of mailboxes and the reduction of post office hours.
Some of those changes preceded Mr. DeJoy’s tenure — including the removal of mailboxes and mail sorting machines.
Mr. DeJoy vowed on Friday to stop removal of mail processing equipment and blue collection boxes, and told senators that he did not know about the machine removal when it began, saying it was “not a critical issue within the Postal Service.”
Some of those changes would be hard to unwind, including restoring the mail sorting machines that have been taken out of service. Some have been disassembled or destroyed, according to union officials, postal workers and lawmakers.
Senator Maggie Hassan, Democrat of New Hampshire, told Mr. DeJoy on Friday that several machines in Manchester had been taken out of service.
“Three of them are just sitting there, and I am told that one of them has been dismantled and sold to a company in Pennsylvania for scrap metal,” she said.
Mr. DeJoy is expected to maintain that “dramatic” changes are necessary to address the long-term financial sustainability of the Postal Service.
Lawmakers will question DeJoy over conflicts of interest
Lawmakers are expected to press Mr. DeJoy on his continued financial ties to companies that contract with the Postal Service, investments that have fueled additional scrutiny of the postmaster general and raised questions about his potential conflicts of interest.
Mr. DeJoy continues to hold $25 million to $50 million in XPO Logistics, a $16 billion transportation company where he served as the chief executive of its supply chain business until 2015 and was a board member until 2018. And he continues to earn millions of dollars more in rental payments from XPO through leasing agreements at buildings that he owns, according to his financial disclosure forms.
XPO assists the Postal Service during busy shipping periods, such as around the holidays, moving bulk shipments of packages from fulfillment centers and taking them to local Postal Service centers so mail carriers can deliver them to residences.
In a separate potential conflict of interest, Mr. DeJoy owned between $100,000 and $250,000 in Amazon stock when he joined the administration. But when he divested himself of that stock in June, after he became the postmaster general, he bought a new financial stake in the company, investing between $50,000 and $100,000 in stock options for Amazon, as first reported by CNN.
Mr. DeJoy has insisted that he has fully complied with federal ethics rules and maintained that the new measures he has put in place are necessary to modernize the Postal Service. “I take my ethical obligations seriously,” he said in a statement to The New York Times.
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