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Postmaster General Promises to Suspend Service Cuts Until After Election

HeadlineAug 19, 2020

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said Tuesday he would suspend changes to the U.S. Postal Service until after the election, following a massive public outcry against cuts to mail service even as a record number of voters are expected to cast ballots by mail.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected DeJoy’s move as insufficient, saying it failed to reverse damage already done to the USPS. Pelosi has called the House back into session from summer recess for an urgent vote on the Postal Service, scheduled for Saturday.

Last week, President Trump admitted he’s working to undermine the USPS in order to make it harder to vote by mail in November. Trump’s comment came as the Postal Service sent letters to 46 states and Washington, D.C., warning all mail-in ballots may not get delivered on time — even as the USPS removed mailboxes and mail sorting equipment across the country.

In New York, Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez visited a post office Tuesday in Queens, where she blasted the Trump administration’s moves.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: “This issue is bigger than any one of us. The Postal Service is not only how we send a ballot. It is how we get our medicine. It is how we send rent checks. It’s where people are getting their tax refunds. It is a core service of any civilized society. And an attack on our Postal Service and an attempt to dismantle our Postal Service out of a selfish desire to sabotage our democracy and maintain a grip on power is an attack on all of us.”

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