Home Democratic Party House Democrats Pass Broad Legislation To Protect U.S. Postal Service

House Democrats Pass Broad Legislation To Protect U.S. Postal Service [UPDATED]

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UPDATE: The vote was 257-150, with 26 Republicans overall joining Democrats in voting for the bill, and with all of Virginia’s U.S. House Democrats voting yes and all of Virginia’s U.S. House Republicans voting no.

From Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA10):

Statement from Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA02):

From Rep. Don Beyer’s office:

House Democrats Pass Broad Legislation To Protect U.S. Postal Service

August 22, 2020 (Washington, D.C.) – Today Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) voted for H.R. 8015, the Delivering for America Act, legislation funding the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and making policy changes to restore delivery service. The House passed the bill on with bipartisan support a few hours after the House Oversight Committee released internal USPS documents showing sharp declines in delivery service across the country since early July.

“The American people depend on the U.S. Postal Service for their businesses, their medical treatment, and this year, for their election,” said Beyer. “Donald Trump’s admission that he was sabotaging the USPS to prevent people from voting during a pandemic was a call to action for everyone who cares about this important service and the sanctity of our elections. The House answered that call today by passing this legislation, and I will continue doing all I can to help safeguard our democratic process and ensure fair elections.”

The Delivering for America Act would prohibit:

  • Any change affecting service on a nationwide or substantially nationwide basis;
  • Any revision of existing service standards;
  • Closing, consolidating or reducing the hours of any post office or postal facility;
  • Any prohibition on paying overtime to Postal Service officers or employees;
  • Any change that would prevent the Postal Service from meeting its service standards or cause a decline in measurements of performance relative to those standards; and
  • Any change having the effect of delaying mail or increasing the volume of undelivered mail.

This legislation will also:

  • Include $25 billion requested by the Postal Service and supported unanimously and on a bipartisan basis by the Trump-appointed Postal Board of Governors;
  • Require the Postal Service to treat all official election mail as First-Class mail;
  • Prohibit the removal, decommissioning or other stoppage of mail sorting machines, other than for routine maintenance;
  • Prohibit the removal of mailboxes; and
  • Explicitly reverse any changes already implemented to the operations or policies of the Postal Service that delay mail delivery.
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