Facing tough questioning from a House panel, the postmaster general denounced suggestions that he was working to help President Trump politically and defended the cost-cutting changes he has overseen.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told Congress on Monday that the Postal Service could be trusted to carry out the largest vote-by-mail program in American history without political bias, even as President Trump repeated baseless accusations that mail-in voting would be used by his rivals to rig the November election against him. Under tough questioning by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, Mr. DeJoy, a major donor to Mr. Trump and other Republicans, mounted an outraged defense of the modifications he has made at the Postal Service that have thrust the agency into a political firestorm, denying that they were motivated by partisanship. He refused to commit to reversing the changes, which he characterized as vital cost-cutting measures for a cash-strapped agency badly in need of an overhaul, and scolded Congress for failing for years to attend to the post office’s financial woes. While he conceded that some of the changes he had put in place, such as reducing overtime and limiting trips, had caused service delays, Mr. DeJoy maintained that the issues were being rectified and hotly denounced suggestions from Democratic lawmakers that he was working to help Mr. Trump politically. “I am not engaged in sabotaging the election,” Mr. DeJoy told lawmakers. But even as he spoke, Mr. Trump was delivering an extraordinary diatribe against voting by mail in a surprise appearance at the Republican National Convention in Charlotte, N. C., where he sought to sow mistrust in the process and claimed without evidence that Democrats were “using Covid to steal the election.” The performance made for an awkward contrast with Mr. DeJoy, who spent the day trying to reassure Congress about the Postal Service’s role in helping to administer an election without political influence. Reiterating comments he made last week before a Senate panel, Mr. DeJoy criticized the “false narrative” that he said was being promoted about both his intentions and the changes at the agency, which he described as necessary to address the Postal Service’s financial challenges. Civil rights groups, state attorneys general and Democrats have asserted instead that they are part of a concerted attempt, directed by Mr. Trump, to disenfranchise voters. “First, I did not direct the removal of blue collection boxes or the removal of mail processing equipment,” Mr. DeJoy said in his opening statement. “Second, I did not direct the cutback on hours at any of our post offices. And finally, I did not direct the elimination or any cutback in overtime. I did, however, suspend these practices, to remove any misperceptions about our commitment to delivering the nation’s election mail.” Mr. Trump has worked to stoke concerns about Americans’ ability to reliably cast their ballots by mail during the coronavirus pandemic, criticizing the Postal Service as a “joke.” “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 said on Twitter as the session got underway.
