I also rise in strong support of the brave postal workers across this nation who are continuing to deliver the mail for the American People in the middle of a global pandemic. Pandemic. He Postal Service is the critical component of americas infrastructure. Lifeline of medication, supplies, and mail all americans everywhere they live, especially in this need. F earlier this year, the postal to help. Sked congress they asked us for 25 billion in assistance to help navigate through this crisis. Other ke all these industries did. Usinesses and entities who received federal funds from congress. This was not a democratic request. From the Postal Service, and it was supported unanimously governors. D of all of whom were appointed by trump. Nt in response to this urgent request, the house acted. Said yes. We acted swiftly to help the Postal Service. Voted to include 25 billion in the heroes act, and we passed on may 15. Unfortunately, the president agree, and the request has language wished for more than three languished for months. N three and now, now we know why. Ecause the president told us why. He admitted on national blocking that he was the 25 billion in order to voting. Ailin thats what he said, and id like to read it to you. I quote, they want 25 billion for the post office. Need that money in order to make the post office work. So it can take all of these millions of ballots, end quote. Does not end t there. Postmaster general is using this lack of funding to damaging eeping and changes to Postal Service seen thes, and we have results. National headlines about delays weeks in mail, veterans desperately waiting for their medications, sorting machines being ripped out and dumpsters. Yesterday, some of my republican colleagues argued at the rules that there are, and i quote, no delays, end quote. Right. No delays happening anywhere. That laimed repeatedly there is no data that proves are real. Ys ut we have eyes, and we have heard accounts from across this nation from our districts in this nation, in and we have the postmaster general himself who admitted that there are in fact dela delays. Hat he feels bad about them, and that hes working feverishly them. Ress in addition, this afternoon, we else. Omething we have new information. Received new internal Postal Service documents showing fromnwide performance data july and august. Data. Al post office these new documents show that heard ays we have all bout are actually far worse than previously expected and told us. Across the board. They are across this nation. Afternoon, i am making these new documents available to members of the house, and i rge you to review them carefully. And they will be available on debate. R during this the bill we are considering simple. It does two things. Irst, it provides the 25 billion the Postal Service requested on a bipartisan basis during the coronavirus crisis. Returns delivery standards to the way they were postmaster general recently caused all those impact on ch has an the delivery of the ability of vote by mail. Issue. Not a partisan it makes absolutely no sense to dramatic changes in the middle of a pandemic less than three months before the november elections. Want erican people do not nyone messing with the post office. They certainly do not want it to be politicized. Their mail. Nt they want their medicines. Nd they want their mailin ballots delivered in a timely way. Exactly what our bill does. Reserve the i balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from new york reserves. The gentleman is recognized. Mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the entleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comer thank you, mr. Speaker. Rise today in opposition to h. R. 8015, the delivering for america act. This is the result of a process only lightly less absurd than the conspiracies, insinuationses and that gave the purported need for it. Just this second, the sponsor of has data now she that we can all receive while bill. Voting on the i mean, is this data from the whistleblower . With know your record whistleblowers. The process is broken. Regardless, were here debating bill to simultaneously to hamstring and bail out the service. We had no Committee Hearings or markups. On monday, we will hear from the postmaster general. After we vote on the bill. No sense. The result is deeply flawed. Fauci advised theres no reason americans cannot vote in person, citizens mail must vote by have their ballots delivered in manner. The postmaster general has pledged that is his mission, and before the senate, he pledged ballots would be delivered faster than first without rate increases. But i want to turn now and one one debunk the democrats conspiracy theories. First, democrats claimed dejoy is removing blue collection to sabotage the election. This is an absurd claim. Routine. Val process is he Postal Service has removed 5,000 boxes over the last 10 years. Under president obama, at least 12,000 mailboxes were removed, cried foul then. Econd, democrats claim postmaster dejoy is removing mail sorters to slow down the mail. They were slotted to be removed appointment. And mail volume is down 33 over the past 15 years. Third democratic claim is that the Postal Service cannot volume, resulting from the upcoming election. In 2019, the Postal Service average of 471 day. On pieces of mail each assuming all 158 million registered voters decided to volume mail, the total of requested and mailed ballots would not exceed a typical day total usps mail volume. Democrats claim the postmaster generals pilot rogram in the effort to reduce excessive overtime were intended to sabotage the election. Postmaster general testified he never sought to eliminate overtime. Instead he sought to get postal operations on time. So there would be less need to rely on overtime and reduce extra mail truck trips. With overtime costs of 1. 1 billion in 2018 alone, why wouldnt you try to improve on that . The fifth democrat claim is that the Postal Service general counsel sent letters to the election boards to intimidate and stoke fears. Letters were also sent in may, well before postmaster dejoy took over. The postmaster has only been in office 60 days. Saying what the u. S. Service has been saying for years. That some state election boards have deadlines and requirements that do not consider the reality of Postal Service operations and logistics and constrains constraints. A state allows voters to to request absentee ballots one day before the election why wouldnt the Postal Service advise there might be a problem. Sixth, democrats are acting as created by are dejoy. I have been hearing about delays for years. Where there are delays it makes sense to figure out why. And finally the false narrative that the Postal Service is running out of money and will cease operations before the election. Currently the Postal Service has over 15 billion cash on hand. Thats enough to keep it solvent until august 20 21, and enough time for us to do the right thing. Like the russia hoax and the impeachment sham, the democrats are manufactured another scandal for political purposes. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves his time the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney first in response, this is not a democratic Conspiracy Theory. Republican officials from across this country, elected and appointed, have expressed their own concerns about postal delays and the president s comments. I now recognize the gentlelady, Eleanor Holmes norton from the District Of Columbia for two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from the District Of Columbia is recognized. Ms. Norton i thank my good friend, the chair of the committee, for recognizing me. Even during this pandemic with most agencies down we had not heard complaints from the Postal Service until lieu de until louie dejoy was appointed postmaster general. On the contrary, our pan the pandemic had not kept our mail from being faithfully delivered. Almost immediate leif dejoy assumed office, pan moan yum broke out. For example in ward 8 in my district there was no mail for two weeks and the district and 46 states have been warned by the Postal Service itself that it cannot guarantee that all mail ballots will arrive in time to be counted. Mr. Dejoy did not tell the truth at the Senate Hearing yesterday. We know from a july 15 memorandum directing employees explicitly to leave mail behind d to significantly cut overtime, we know that from an august 7 Postal Service action that reassigned 23 top executives with decades of Institutional Knowledge of postal operations in order to centralize operations in mr. Deinjury. Know and will bring out on before this this hearing is over today. Why the post office continues to be sabotaged and i thank the gentlelady for yielding me the time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from the district yields back. The gentlewoman from new york reserves. The gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comer i yield two minutes to the Ranking Member of the education committee, the gentlewoman from North Carolina, dr. Foxx. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from next is recognized. Ms. Foxx thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank my distinguished colleague from kentucky for yielding. Mr. Speaker, during my time in this chamber i have two devoted myself to finding the truth and working toward good governance. That requires gathering the facts and exposing the lies. It is in this light that i rise today to oppose h. R. 8015, the socalled delivering for america act. H. R. 015 aims so solve a madeup crisis by forcing the Postal Service to double down on the very same activities that have caused to it lose money consistently each year since 2006. Then it gives the Postal Service another 25 billion to lose with no strings attached. Mr. Speaker, there is no immediate Postal Service crisis. Democrats manufactured this crisis and are using to it create fear and advance their agenda. The Postal Service currently has 14 billion in cash on hand which is enough to sustain operations through august of 2021. This comes on top of the fact that the Postal Service has not even touched the 10 billion loan that congress extended to it in the recently passed cares act. The Postal Service has many longterm problems but theres no shortterm crisis. If democrats were serious about ensuring the longevity of the Postal Service wed finally pass bipartisan measures like the Postal Service reform act of 2017 championed by former representatives meadows and cummings. This bill would keep mailing costs down, encourage innovation and not require additional taxpayer bailouts. Our current postmaster general dejoy took the job despite being vilified in public. He was unanimously select by the bipartisan u. S. Postal Service Board of governors. Because the board saw tremendous value in his decades of experiencing moring and growing a successful nationwide logistics company. He certainly had the qualifications to work with congress and take on the task of postal reform. Mr. Speaker, we need longterm solutions to fix the longterm problems of the Postal Service. H. R. 8015 merely aims to score political points on an issue that does not even exist. I urge my colleagues to vote no on this bill. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from North Carolina yields back. The gentleman from kentucky reserves. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney i recognize the distinguished chairman of the subcommittee on government operations, Jerry Connolly from virginia, for three minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Connolly thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank and salute my friend, the chairwoman of the full committee, for her leadership and bringing this bill to the floor. We just heard more of the same on the other side of the aisle. Denial and disinformation. I find it particularly ironic that my friend from North Carolina would cite the unanimous decision of the board of governors. Guess what . That same board of governors unanimously recommended the 25 billion youre declining thats in this bill today testimonyst interesting how we cherry pick facts. Mr. Chairman, mr. Speaker, i rise today in support of the delivering for america act. There is an ongoing and concerted effort to disrupt the timeliness of mail delivery and to erode Public Confidence in the Postal Service, all lead, if successful, to the largest Voter Suppression in American History since jim crow. The effort is being directed by the new postmaster general louie dejoy a crony and major donor of the president. A president who opposes mailin voting for everyone, apparently, but himself and his wife. A president who has called the Postal Service a joke and a scam. And who threatened to veto the cares act with 2 trillion for desperately kneed assistance all over this country simply to block this funding. On august 18, the postmaster general announced, finally, he put a hold on some of the sweeping operational changes that were not only misguided amidst a pandemic but actually eroded Public Confidence in americas favorite governmental agency, the post service. Nall a days work apparently for someone unqualified and unfit to begin with for the office he now occupied. By now, we should all know better than to take the administration at its word and despite the postmasters report red treat, the sabotage continues. The postmaster is still not advocating for additional funding for the Postal Service despite the recommendation by his own if board of governors. Hes not committed to using overtime as a tool in the pandemic to compensate for 4040 for 40,000 postal workers who was had to quarantine or gotten sick. He didnt commit to restoring sorting machines or reestablishing service. Thats why this bill would restore the Service Delivery standards and operations in place before mr. Dejoy took office. The postmasters announcement didnt include an agenda to support election mail that demonstrates a commitment to helping the Postal Service fulfill its historic role in an upcoming election in a pandemic. Thats why this bill will ensure mail is expedited as has been the practice in previous years. And the postmasters announcement didnt explain to the public how an executive could fail so spectacularly and keep his job. We still have work to do because the sabstadge continues. We must restore Public Confidence in the Postal Service and its ability to support vote big mail during the worst pan democrat nick 100 years. American democracy demands no less. Thats hour history. Thats the history mr. Dejoy ignored. And thats the awesome responsibility he betrayed. I yealed back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentlewoman from new york reserves. The gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comer theres no evidence of the charge os they have gentleman from virginia. With that, i yield two minutes to my friend and neighbor from kentucky, mr. Massie. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Massie i thank the gentleman from kentucky. In march, Speaker Pelosi called me a dangerous nuisance for insisting that at least half of Congress Come back to vote on a 2 trillion bailout bill. This week she called congress into session to vote on a post office bill thats nothing but political posturing. Speaker pelosi told us wed probably be back in august to vote on a p. P. P. Bill. What she didnt tell us is that p. P. P. Would stand for pelosis political posturing. Let me read a quote from the chief operating officer of the u. S. Postal service that might explain whats going on. The decision to consolidate Mail Processing facilities recognizes the urgent need to reduce the size of the national Mail Processing network to eliminate costly underutilized infrastructure. That was chief operating officer under obama and biden. Thats from a press release this 2012 when they announced they were closing nine process fag silties in the state of kentucky. In fact, they didnt remove the equipment. They locked the doors and turned out the lights and shut it down forever even in lexington, kentucky, our second biggest city in kentucky. A year earlier they closed down a processing facility in my district. The Obama Administration did. And o obamabiden my mail if i send to it my neighbor goes to charleston, west virginia, before it comes back to kentucky. Is it part of a conspiracy . No its part of a decades long Realignment Process where the post office is trying to match the needs of consumest to the post office infrastructure. These Voter Suppression conspiracies who know what is the democrat wills blame next. Last month they were blaming the census. This month the post office. Probably next month theyll blame amtrak. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from kentucky reserves. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney i now recognize for two minutes, Stephen Lynch of massachusetts, the chair of the subcommittee on National Security for the committee on oversight and reform. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Lynch good afternoon, mr. Speaker. As chairman of the subcommittee on National Security i want to rise in strong support of h. R. 8015, the delivering for america act. This urgent legislation would reverse the illadvised changes to mail delivery the new postmaster general has implemented to the injury of every americans right to vote and at a serious peril to our democracy. In my own district, in the city of boston and city of brocton, the Postal Service has removed at least six high capacity mail sorting ma sheeps in the mail facility in south boston and two more from the postal processing in the city of brocton causing a four to five day delay right now in the city of brocton. Why would someone do that 10 days before a congressional primary in massachusetts in the midst of a pandemic when people are being asked to vote by mail in order to keep themselves safe . Mr. Speaker, i was elected on 11, and as horrific as that day was, i feel proud our nation came together, as americans do difficult times. We mourned our fallen heroes. We tried to comfort their am if and we turned to face our adversary together. Republican. Looking back, i believe our democracy was less endangered it is today. Two reasons. R first, because we were united we are divided today and we know who divides us. Secondly, back then, the threat external. But today, today at this moment, greatest threat to our emocracy is the Current Administration. I call on my colleagues, stand together. And defend er democracy. Defend your own constituents vote. To i urge my colleagues, vote in 8015. Of defend democracy. Gone. Ll miss it when its i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields. The gentlewoman reserves. The gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Speaker, i yield three minutes to the Ranking Member of the subcommittee on government operations, the mr. Eman from georgia, hice. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from georgia is recognized for three minutes. Ranking i thank the member and my friend, and i would just counter by saying, democracyst threat to in the country is the current majority in the house of representatives. Herewere doing even right today, what were doing right now, we havent even had a hearing on this. To have a hearing on monday for something were today. On absolute political malpractice is what were watching right here. Even debate this . Why dont we go ahead and have a ote and then debate it, thats the same issue what were doing right now. My Democrat Friends over here president as though hes involved in Voter Suppression. Listen, the real issue we to talk about Voter Suppression. We want to talk about influencing the vote. Own Speaker Pelosi just a little while ago had a press onference in which she was touting 100 days ago the heroes act passed. What she did not say what was in heroes act. Forbidding states from having voter i. D. Were going to have universal mailin ballots, no voter i. D. Have ballot o harvesting across the country so we have no purging of votes. Just going to send out millions of ballots, millions of among which deceased people are there, folks who have sent ballots just being out all over the place. That thereby no there will be i. D. s required, and yet, all these ballots, somebody is going to vote for and send them back in. About political malpractice. And the chairwoman herself ought stand up and t to testify of the disaster of her took over six at weeks or thereabouts to get the esults because these mailin ballots kept coming and coming and coming. Thousands of which were thrown out. For lawsuits in your chair. Ction, madam just absolute insanity what and itsng here to me, a representation of why people re so disgusted with washington. We talk about the delays ain th mail service. N april of this year we had a briefing, not a hearing, a briefing to inform us of the going to be re that were going to be brought about in the Postal Service due to covid. Thats happening. We have thousands of poster workers who are not working because of covid. Also have great delays, wouldnt you not agree, in like like portland, chicago. Of course, there are incredible delays. To even ared to death deliver the mail in cities like this. Place like come to a postal bail out the service 25 billion that postmaster general himself says need with 14 billion to 15 billion cash on hand, billion waited if needed in the treasury. This is absolutely unneeded. And yet, this bill is going to give an additional 25 billion any reforms. I see my time has expired. Urge my colleagues to vote against this and i yield back. Thank you. The speaker pro tempore the yields. N the gentleman from kentucky reserves. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Maloney the other side kept claiming that there was no ata about the slowdown in the mail. Absolutely none. Well, this new report, this data shows a 10 decline in service 1 after the new postmaster general came into ffice and implemented a slowdown of the mail. I now recognize the from guished member illinois, cheri bustos, for one minute. Rs. Bustos thank you. I rise in support of the delivering for america act. Post office is a lifeline to rural communities. In the n 1,000 people district that i serve have written to my office desperate service. He postal a disabled veteran, who depends on the post office to deliver a small g medication, Business Owner who needs the post office to deliver her efficient and osteffective way so she can feed her family. Seniors who must selfisolate because they are at high risk, servicend on the postal for the supplies they need each and every day. The Postal Service is more than a service. Part of who we are. What as a in peoria, he child waiting for the decoder come in the mail. For heather, its a care pack old package of old family photos. For joseph its a letter from afghanistan. Nd in birth certificates, College Acceptance letters, the mortgage the Postal Service delivers the american dream. We cannot let it fail. Thank you. Back. D the speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from new york reserves. The gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Speaker, i yield two minutes to the chief deputy whip, the gentleman from ferguson. R. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Ferguson thank you, mr. Speaker. First, like to wish my mother birthday. Happy birthday, mom. Wish i was there to celebrate with you but instead im in d. C. Voting on a senseless bill that as designed strictly for political purposes and will put your beloved grandchildren further into debt. Now, i have watched my other side of he the aisle come up with some intellectually dishonest stuff past. Seen it happen more times than i can count, but this effort takes the cake. Look at postmaster general dejoy said when he testified before the Senate Last Week and clearly addressed the litany of the baseless claims. Irst of all, he stated that no reforms will be would be mplemented between now and election. Ov overtime haept been cut. Cut. Snt been and United States Postal Service reform. The drop box will be ceased. Mayor of d when i was my hometown and my hometown was furious about it then. I wish my colleagues on the ther side of the aisle have found religion about this issue ack then instead of sitting back up whatever color to paint he fire hydrants while rome burned. This bill costs 25 billion additional. 25 billion. Postmaster said 13 billion cash on hand. Another 10 billion in loans probably wont need. I want someone to explain to me to spend 25 ng billion between now and november. We know how this place works. Unauthorized appropriation, we all know that before you spend money here you plan, and i a havent seen one. And then that plans got to be commented on hen and reviewed again. And then one more time its probably got to be reviewed. Then there is the whole procurement process, bid process checks ment, background on new employees, the lawsuits on the procurement process interests special groups said they werent notified in time so they could get preferential treatment on government contract. And surely, surely there will be environmental reviews. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Comer mr. Speaker, i yield seconds. Mr. Ferguson surely there will be the customary environmental done to understand the impact on the spotted blue tail dillo being run over by by new o being run over post office trucks. This bill is a sham. We are piling up money. It on the well put national mall. Have a bonfire. Nvite americans to bring their lawn chairs and a cooler of beer to watch the bonfire so they can firsthand how this place wastes money. I urge a no vote and yield back. The speaker pro tempore the yields. N the gentleman from kentucky reserves. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney the other side of double standard. Congress provided hundreds of sortsns of dollars to all of industries, businesses, large the mall, entities across country to help them cope with he coronavirus crisis, and we did not require them to come forward with detailed plans of ow they are going to spend their money. But they want it for the Postal Service. Service made a public request, and they requested it and presented it to the board of governors who are appointed by President Trump and board approved it unanimously. That is far more than all these entities that weve given billions of dollars to did. The postalld support service now. It, the c. B. O. Came out with an estimate that this money would be spent in the next fiscal year and that they need it and i ask unanimous c. B. O. Record the into the record. The speaker pro tempore without objection. I now loney and recognize the distinguished mfuma. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. I heard remarks that cant go unaddressed. To say that eman democrats, the Majority Party ere in the house, are the greatest threat to american democracy that the world has known, that means we are more threatening than putin and he russians, more threatening this terrible pandemic, this is something i would side to say from the other side. Mfume we are here to have discussion and to reasonably disagree on things and at the forof the day were calling a vote as we normally do. Things are voted up. Things are voted down, but that the process that i have come to know overall these years. E are here because americans who are democrats and republicans and independents are time. Tting their mail on were here because theres been 10 slowdown in the last 66 days. Were here because sorting dismantled atbeen an accelerated rate, not a norm at an accelerated rate across america. Were here because mailboxes being density are snatched. Theyre being removed over the ears, du has accelerated and its accelerated to such an exte extent that now people are wondering, where is their where is their checks. Its veterans, its small hampered who are before this, its senior citizens. We are not here mysteriously on to point fingers and call names. The other side has a right to disagree, but this is a problem. About your constituents, but all of mine re telling me that they cant get their mail on time. They expect more. Postmaster irst general looked back at this day, im sure ben franklin would be spinning in his grave. An issue before us. We ought to go at it with vigorous debate. May e end of the day, i lose, you may win, i may win and you may lose, but the american without us standing up for this issue. The speaker pro tempore the reserves. N the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comer mr. Speaker, obviously the last speaker, the maryland, missed the part where one of his members proclaimed that the the greatest threat to democracy. But with that, mr. Speaker, i two minutes to the oversight, National Security Ranking Member, the gentleman mr. Grothman. , the speaker pro tempore the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. You. Rothman thank a very interesting debate today. I think it would be a great debate to be reviewed by every olitical science class in the country as we analyze how us in a 25 put trillion debt. We have a situation today in hich the u. S. Post office is sitting on 15 billion. They have the right to borrow billion from the stimulus package bill we passed earlier. This re making more money year than last year because delivery of packages are up. Numbers, e all these e have decided to spend or the Majority Party has decided to spend an additional 25 billion. Post office. He i really do. But when you have an agency that can spend 25 billion thats unspent right now, 25 billion, you introduce a bill to say they need another 25 billion for that dont vote 25 billion bill it means you dont want children to get little toys theyre going to in the mail or it means we dont like the post office, thats outlandish. Other things you can look at as well. You can look talk about post offices. In the first three years in trump has dent complete control of the administration, they will be getting rid of less post office than obama from 2013 to i dont know the numbers before 2013. It might be four years in a row. Greatest year President Trump got rid of mailboxes. Evener thing to point out, if every Single Person in this country votes absentee, which it will only increase mail that month by 1. 5 . We have no crisis. It is something they can handle. The idea we are talking about spending another 25 billion today is indicative of why this country is going to wind up spending itself into oblivion. Thank you. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney i now recognize the distinguished chair of the democratic caucus, congressman hakim jeffries, from the great state of new york. Mr. Jeffries i thank the speaker pro tempore how much time . Mrs. Maloney one minute. Mr. Jeffries i thank the distinguished chair for yielding and her tremendous leadership. The post office is as american as motherhood, baseball, and apple pie. It is the only one of the only entities actually mentioned in the United States constitution. It has been around for hundreds of years. The first postmaster general was dr. Ben franklin. It is part of the heart and soul of this country. And the attacks on the post office by the Trump Administration are shameful. The American People deserve a Postal Service that delivers Social Security checks to senior citizens. Delivers medicine to disainled veterans disabled veterans. Delivers Unemployment Insurance checks to displaced americans. And delivers ballots to those who choose to vote by mail in the midst of a deadly pandemic because no american should ever have to choose between their health, safety, and wellbeing on the one hand, and the constitutional right to vote on the other. That is why we need a fully functional Postal Service. Dont mess with uspa. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from reserves. The gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comer could you tell me the balance of our time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from kentucky has 43 1 2 minutes. Mr. Comer thank you. I yield two minutes to another Oversight Committee Ranking Member, the gentleman from texas, mr. Cloud. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Cloud thank you, mr. Comer. Mr. Speaker, you will never hear me complain about having to come to washington to vote. After all, it is an honor to serve the people of this great nation and our constitutional obligation to be here present to vote on the issues facing america. So the question today, are the issues that need to be addressed in the United States Postal Service . There certainly are. We all know there are. After all the usps has been on the Government Accountabilitys highrisk list since the beginning of the Obamabiden Administration. The systematic issues are not nufmente they did not creep up in the last few weeks since the new postmaster has been in office. They have been here for a while. If we are trying to address issues, there is room for discussion. The late chairman Elijah Cummings and the how white house chief of staff mark meadows had a bill that had serious effort put into it. Tomorrow well have a hearing with the postmaster to discuss the build we are arguing today. The white house has offered 10 billion package, which the speaker has rejected. There are option it is we want to address the real issues. Todays not about a serious effort. Todays effort is yet another smokescreen. Another Conspiracy Theory forced on the American People to distract us from the real problems facing the American People. To distract from the speakers unwillingness to work with the white house to protect schools, hospitals, and Small Businesses. To small. P. E. To businesses. The heartbreaking violence and destruction in our cities and streets. The American People are tired of this. Tired of lurching from one manufactured crisis to another. Tired of leadership by fear mongering. Tired of this house preferring to campaign on issues rather than fix them. The bill offered today will not save the usps or provide for longterm sustainability. Todays effort is another attempt to mask the fact that this house under this leadership is doing very little for the American People. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney it is now my pleasure to introduce another member of the committee on oversight and reform, the distinguished lady from florida, Debbie Wasserman schultz, congresswoman wasserman schultz, for two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman is recognized for two minutes. Ms. Wasserman schultz thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlelady for yielding. I rise to support the delivering for america act. To protect the pillar of our democracy and fortify a lifeline so Many Americans count on. This bill would provide urgently needed Postal Service funding and leaders. We know the motto neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. No one foresaw any american president would willingly crowbar our mail system to sway an election. The deliver for america act will safeguard our democracy from any president ial subversion. This legislation will also allow our mail carriers to do their job by ensuring overtime and proper equipment are available t will make sure intentional service delays are avoided so our seniors get their Social Security checks and prescriptions. It defends our veterans who reply on the postal system to deliver their medicine. My state, florida, just completed a primary where nearly 60 of the counted ballots arrived by mail. Savvy seniors and residents wanted the safety that only mailin balloting provided. This year our country saw half a million primary ballots rejected, and the main reason they get tossed is due to postal delays . These brave flinte workers are delivering goods amid a pandemic and its taken a toll on their work force. When a state like florida known for its razor thin president ial elections, we cant afford to have 59 sorting machines left on the sidelines. Blocking postal employees from overtime is not an option. Especially when it may hold up hundreds of ballots to decide the presidency. The delivering for america act helps defend our democracy from hypocrisy of a president who casts mail ballots himself one day then tries to meddle in our neighbors mailbox the next. Dont mess with the usps, pass this good bill. The speaker pro tempore members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities against the president. The gentlewoman from reserves. The gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comer mr. Speaker, i yield two minutes to another great member of the Oversight Committee, the gentleman from ohio, mr. Gibbs. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Gibbs once again my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are pulling the wool over American Peoples eyes. We are here today not to debate or conduct Public Policy for the benefit of the nation, we are here so they can form a political theater. If you have any doubt about that, monday this coming monday, the Oversight Committee is having a hearing with the postmaster general about this same issue. We are voting first. Then we are having hearings . I think thats is backwards. My colleagues on the left are faking outrage over madeup crisis to score points during an election. The United States Postal Service is under no greater stress than it was before the coronavirus pandemic. And well before this election cycle. The facts have been laid out by experts, by independent journalists, regular citizens who do the job, the Mainstream Media refuses to do. Rather than find out and report whats really going on, we have Mainstream Media parroting Speaker Pelosis Conspiracy Theory. Here are the facts. The post office is solvent for most of 2021 and be able to operate in the 2020 election. They have 15 billion cash on hand. They have a 10 fwl line of credit they have not used. If every single american voted by mail this cycle, it would be as little as one quarter of the mail the post office handles daily. You have heard a lot about sorting machines. The first class mail has tapered off and packages volume has increased. Efficiency standards serve better. During the five year span of the Obama Administration 14,000 blue collection boxes were removed from the streets. Twice during election years the Obama Administration row posed funding cuts to the post office. Where was the outrage then . Relocating collection boxes where they are more useful is commonsense not conspiracy. Postmaster dejoy testified and come out publicly said they are not going to do any more cost cutting measures before the election. What the other side wants is universal mail voting not absentee voting. Universal mail voting would mail out ballots to anybody and who knows who it will be. They are sewing the sowing the seeds if the election doesnt go their way. You wont hear any of these facts the speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Gibbs mr. Speaker, i ask for 30 additional seconds. Joip the gentleman virginia tech. Mr. Gibbs this bill provides the funding already there and creating and pedaling this Conspiracy Theory is irresponsible and reckless. At the time russia and china are meddling in our elections, we dont need help from congress pedaling fake news. This is one news that needs to be labeled return to the sender. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney i now recognize the distinguished chair of the transportation and Infrastructure Committee from oregon. Congressman peter defazio, for two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Defazio see this mask . What does it stay . United states Postal Service. Not business. Service. For every american. No matter how remote they live they can get mail. They can get their prescriptions, they can have a Small Business in powers, oregon, pretty remote from everything and use the Postal Service. You cant have it bothwayings, guys, the Postal Service doesnt have a problem. Wait a minute. Dejoy is making these cuts because he says it has a revenue problem. Hes prohibited overtime because they have a revenue problem. They cant move their delivery vehicle more than four times on a route. Eightmile long route . You going to walk two miles each way . Guess what, mail is getting delayed across the country. The fact is, before a pandemic they were breaking even or making money if we did away with the stupid prefunding of 75 years of health care that was put in in the dark of the night by the bim in a lame duck congress. And 309 people in this house, including 87 republicans, voted for that in february, but it hasnt happened. You cant have it both ways. His is no the mail is being delayed. Miss lawrie she cares for a blind elderly veteran. I ordered the v. A. Refills for him. They were so late arriving we had to ration out his most important medication from two pills a day to one when the prescription arrived. Miss trudy, eugene, oregon, my husbands a vietnam war veteran. His meds are delivered by mail. I love my husband. I want him to get the meds. Last year the Postal Service delivered 125 million v. A. Prescriptions on time. But somehow with the efficiency measures and the cuts, which i guess they dont need to make but hes making because of the financial crisis, they cant deliver v. A. Meds on time. They cant deliver prescription drugs for seniors. And many other americans who are required by their Insurance Plan to get their meds through the mail with just in time deliverry, which isnt happening. You cannot deny those things. Why are they happening . How are you going to fix it . The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Defazio talk about how we are going the speaker pro tempore the entlemans time has expired. Members are reminded to direct their remarks to the chair. The gentlewoman reserves. Gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comer i yield two minutes to another great member of the oversight and reform committee, the gentleman from south carolina, mr. Norman. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Norman mr. Speaker, i rise today to apologize to the american taxpayers for this total sham of a process that the democrats and this leadership are trying to spread. Theyve got continue continue to have trump derangement syndrome. Here are the questions i would ask my democrat colleagues. If the democrats are so concerned, then why have we not had a hearing about the Postal Service issues since june 15 of 2019 . If the democrats are so concerned, why have we not had roundtheclock meetings to discuss a bill that we intend to fund the 25 billion which is being proposed . We have been out of session for 17 of the time since march 15. Why havent we been called back in to discuss . If you do the math on 25 billion, we have 70 days left. Thats roughly 325 million per day. You tell the american taxpayer where you are spending that money. You tell the american taxpayer how we are going to come up with it. You tell the american taxpayer this is like dropping money from a helicopter. If the democrats are so concerned about the, the post office, why are we having the vote today when the postmaster general is appearing at a hearing on monday . This is like determining the score of a Football Game then playing the game on monday. It makes no sense. They have no interest, the democrats have no interest in hearing the testimony of mr. Dejoy. The only thing they want to do is berate and not give the postmaster general the opportunity to answer. Just like they did attorney general barr, which was a disgrace to this country. The taxpayers deserve better. The democrats will have no discussion on the spying of the president since 2016. The democrats have no explanation of a failed mueller report. The democrats have no explanation for the impeachment of the president. The post office will fail as well. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman reserves. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney mr. Chair, i would like to correct for the record that the committee on oversight and reform had a briefing on postal on april 9, 2020, right after the covid crisis struck us with the postmaster general. I now recognize another great member of the committee from illinois, congresswoman kelly. The speaker pro tempore for how much time . Mrs. Maloney two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman is recognized. With my y i stand creeks shock and dismayed by the actions of this administration. Oversightst year, the committee has worked in a bipartisan fashion to modernize former al service with rep mark meadows leading the charge. Things over many the past 3 1 2 minutes, mail has become partisan. Pillar al service is a of our democracy. Its essential for providing ritical services, like lifesaving prescriptions, Social Security benefits, paychecks, ax returns, letters from military families, and absentee allots to millions of americans. The v. A. Delivers prescriptions to 80 of our veterans via the mail. Ridiculous onal and slowdown means vets are skipping empty hile checking boxes. While i was back home, one of my businesses told me they havent for 10 days. Another person told me they received mail every other day. Cannot go on, and we cannot trust the word of a postmaster is undwaquan find and unqualified and who and disrupts the upcoming elections. We must pass this bill so we can the United States post office to normal and ensure we have a safe election where counted. Is i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields. The gentlewoman reserves. The gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comer mr. Speaker, i have to comment on what the hairwoman said about the briefings. A briefing is not a committee hearing. No a briefing, theres notice requirements. Oftentimes, we in the beginning werent allowed to have there are no transcripts so there is a big difference between a briefing and committee hearing. Speaker, i yield two minutes to another member of the oversight and reform committee, the gentleman from keller. Ania, mr. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Keller thank you, mr. Speaker. The needday to discuss reformningful, longterm service. S. Postal in u. Sps has lost 78 billion the last 13 years. In 2009, the Government Accountability Office Published placing u. S. Ps on highrisk on the list. The financial state of the usps progressively worsened due to the declining mail volume, debt. Ities and proposals to give the usps 25 in cash without serious reforms will not address the that the l issues agency faces. The proposals before us today delay real reform and throw taxpayer dollars at a problem forward. Lear vision rather than politicizing the mail, we should be working to this the usps longevity through the comprehensive reforms. To fix a n trying problem by simply spending more taxpayer money, we should be reforms to equip our nations outstanding postal the tools they need and deserve to continue mail. Ring the this is the only way we will ensure that americans continue service e this vital without interruption. Thank you and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney i now recognize the virgin islands, another outstanding member of the representative stacey plaskett. For two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman is recognized for two minutes. You, madam thank chair. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Today, we vote on a bill that attack on the u. S. Postal service. Y doing so, we are blocking an attack on an american institution, on our american way on democracy. To the unanimous request of the trump appointed board of governors for funding billion and restoring operations to january 1 levels, saving literally be lives. The necessity of this vote, the ecessity of this legislation operil to our democracy that this administration has put us in. Vote. Sinesses, our we will go further than just voting and we will have that hearing on monday on the versight committee, led by chairwoman maloney, to speak with the postmaster general to some of his, shall we say, creative decisions. E want to examine the operational and organizational changes at the Postal Service delivery resulted in delays across the country, including the delays of goods and services for small and families as well as critical medicines. N my district of the virgin islands, we are hostage to the u. S. Postal service. Big box drive to stores. Never mind medicines for our elders or our veterans. Of ill review the impact these changes on the rights of theirle americans to cast vote through the mail in the november elections. But we will also have a few for mr. Dejoy. Ns is mr. Dejoy thinking about that their who wont receive medication on time due to his policies . About the veteran who served our nation and cant get their prescriptions to heal . He considered rural americans who have to drive 20 iles to the nearest post office . Has he thought about any of these people, or is he, like the only concerned about his own selfinterests . I yield back. The peaker pro tempore gentlewoman reserves. Kentucky. Man from membe members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the president. Again, that ship has sailed. Mr. Speaker, i yield two minutes to another valuable member of oversight and reform committee, the gentleman from north dakota, mr. Armstrong. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. You, mr. Rong thank speaker. If there is a bill that more accurately reflects the failure Democratic Leadership for my first two years in congress, i dont know what it is. To ow that because i came congress knowing of the problems with the Postal Service. m the only republican on the Oversight Committee who cosponsored democrats bill to prefunding prefunding of their pensions. Ive been working on this and about this and care about it for a very long time. I supported former chairman mark meadows bipartisan solution to the post office because i represent a state. And privatization is bad for my constituents. You know how important this has committee . Oversight our last full hearing on the ostal service was in april of 2019. But somehow we have decided that the previous postmaster general, who was appointed in 2015, and didnt resign until did something unique in this town made sure just her. Everybody hated but now we are saying this all blew up last week. Well, it didnt, and i know it because you can google postal problems in any jurisdiction from one end to other and y to the you know theyve existed before. But instead, we will come to the a bill, offered sponsored by the chair of the jurisdiction. We will vote on it today, and then we will have a hearing on monday about the bill. Before we even talk about the fact that were giving 25 illion to an organization that already has 25 billion cash on hand, and regardless of how you about this, 25 billion does not deliver votes and we ability to do this, we are doing this in a way that is political and utterly theater. Because anybody whos been paying attention knows that the ost Office Problems are chronic, theyre not acute, theyve lost 70 billion since and they lost 9 billion in 2019. So my question is, why havent been havent had hearings in oversight for the two years ive been here . Back. Hat i yield the speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Rs. Maloney i would like to respond to the gentlemans tatement that the money is not needed. The Postal Service sought the 25 billion from congress to critical relief. Nd that request was supported the mously by a vote, by board of governors who were all appointed by President Trump. Nd yesterday, we received the report from the nonpartisan congressional budget office, and that report estimates that the vast majority of this funding needed within e fiscal year 2021 to provide to the American Public. This should be a nonpartisan i recognizeith that the distinguished chairwoman of he committee on Financial Services from california, my representative maxine waters. The speaker pro tempore for how much time . Mrs. Maloney two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the entlewoman is recognized for two minutes. Ms. Waters thank you very much, mr. Speaker. And members, i ran to the floor heard that our members on the republican side of the aisle an excuse to use as we have not had a hearing. Oh, yes, you have had a hearing. Ouve had a hearing from the American People that are shocked that the president and dejoy are there dismantling and destroying our Postal Service. Warned the ars, i American People and my colleagues that this president our democracy. Yet, here we are today voting on the postal save service because it is being sabotaged by a desperate in order to cheat in the 2020 election. Founding, ountrys the people have relied on the Postal Service, everything from letters, our seniors have wanted their medicines delivered on time, veterans want disability checks on time, Social Security recipients want money. D their so i want to say to the members n the opposite side of the aisle, youd better get some courage. If youre afraid of the better step up to the plate on this. We will not allow the united Postal Service to be destroyed by you. And another message to the stop removing our blue mailboxes from our neighborhoods. Yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the president. To address their remarks towards the chair. The gentlewoman reserves. The gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comer mr. Speaker, ms. Forgets that president obama removed 12,000 of those asked xes that she just that they quit removing. With that, mr. Speaker, i yield minutes to the gentleman from arkansas, mr. Westerman. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Westerman mr. Speaker, i rise today in support of rontline, essential Rural Mail Carriers and postal workers across my district and america who have continued to go to work do their jobs during the pandemic. This is in sharp contrast to across thecolleagues aisle who draw a paycheck but dont show up to vote or do jobs. Mr. Speaker, i also stand in becauseon to h. R. 8015, its a sham bill that has no future. It doesnt belong on this floor. Belongs in the archives at month ction hoax of the club. How the democrats keep a straight face when proposing 25 bailout disguised as Election Integrity when it would equal about 200 per ballot if every voter voted by mail. Preposterous. With its current over 14 access cash on hand and to 10 billion from the cares act, do we even have to keep United States Postal Service is in more than adequate financial position to fully functional well election . No. The American People are smarter than democrats give us credit. Believe most see past the smoke and mirrors. Post office is important. Its not going anywhere. And this bill has nothing to do with a fair election. And i king member participated in a youth organization. And at the beginning of each leader would ask, why are we here . Many of us are asking that question today. Are we here . The answer is, because this house is adrift. House is a ship without a rutter. Vision. It it lacks vision. Lacks s direction and it leadership. And fro. Assed to it has been throughout this whole congress. Time when america has needs back on an economy track, this is the best they can do. Hope. Democrats offer no we need change. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. Reserves. Man the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney why are we here . President because the of the United States went on National Television on thursday night and said he was going to the post office. Thats why were here. Said, he didnt support mailin voting. Hen we know that millions of americans will want to vote for Health Reasons by mail. Here. Why were were here because we wrote numerous letters to the general, which he ignored. Thats why were here. Democratic e leadership for calling us in for this emergency meeting to make that the post office is funded. Hadas funded before we even a constitution. Its one of the pillars of our democracy. Enshrined in our onstitution, and it provides Vital Services to americans with conduct ns, ability to business, to stay in touch. It binds us together as a nation. Of us do not like the fwakt that the fact that the would nt of our country even mention defunding the post office. That is why were here. Two minutes to three minutes to the very istinguished member of our committee, representative Brenda Lawrence from michigan. She brings valuable experience former member of the Postal Service. You. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized the gentlewoman is recognized for three minutes. Mrs. Lawrence thank you very much. My chairwoman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, i rise today in strong support of 8015. This is eexception legislation to offset the dangerous actions taken by the postmaster general over the last two months. We are here today in addition to that to fund the Postal Service. For more than two centuries the United States Postal Service has delivered mail to every house in america. Across this country. Every single home. It is the only federal organization that touches every american every single day, six days a week. Confirming that it is an essential Government Service. Today the Current Administration and the new postmaster general seem to struggle to understand that the Postal Service is an essential Government Service authorized by the constitution. It is not a business to find the bottom line. In just the first two months of his tenure, two months, without having any postal experience, this postmaster general has threatened and has taken actions to undermine decades of precedent within the Postal Service. Today Congress Must act. As my chairwoman said, that is why we are here. We must act. The delivering for america act does just that. Along with providing the Postal Service with desperately needed, 25 billion to offset evenue that has been forgone due to covid19. It also, this is something thats very important, this legislation prohibits the postmaster general from making any operational changes that will undermine the Postal Services ability to fulfill its mission. Its mission is to deliver the mail. Neither rain, sleet, snow, doom of night. The Postal Service will deliver the mail. But we have a postmaster general who comes inside and tries to rip it apart from the inside. We will say cease and desist. In addition to us having the goal of the Postal Service to deliver the mail, our democracy is hinging upon them doing that basic job. I stand here today to say that the money was asked for by the board of governors, which by the way, appointed by the president , which by the way are all republicans, who asked for that money to be appropriated. And the postmaster general approved and said he needed that money as well. I want to thank the speaker for bringing this critical legislation to the floor. I want to thank my chairwoman for including a part language that i want that will prohibit the enactment of any rule, standard, or policy with the intent to deliver the mail from our government. We have a real responsibility here today. Its not a member on either side of the aisle who have not received a letter from our constituents. Lets do our job. Thank you. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentlewoman reserves. The gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comer out of utmost respect for my friend, the chairwoman of the oversight and reform committee, but i believe she misspoke. She said the president wanted to defund the Postal Service. Thats not what the president wants to do. The only time i have heard the word defund lately was by the liberal progressive wing of the Majority Party who wants to defund the police. So with that, mr. Speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from alabama, mr. Palmer. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Palmer thank you, mr. Speaker. We are here today because my democrat colleagues have create add conspiratorial crisis out of thin air in another attempt to dupe americans with an election hoax. Only this time instead of russia its the United States Postal Service. Democrats are intentionally misleading people to believe that the operational changes at the Postal Service, including the removal of mailboxes and antiquated processing equipment, just started. Thats a lie. Nonetheless, Postal Service officials have confirmed that these operational changes, some of which were agreed to by democrat members, have already been halted until after the election. In regard to the delay and delivery of mail over the last few weeks, the National Numbers cited may well reflect delays in cities that have been under siege by anarchists. I would direct my colleagues and the American Peoples attention to these photos of the burned out Postal Service in minneapolis. Theres no way to know how many letters to loved ones were lost or birthday cards or gifts or family heir looms or decoder ring that kid had been waiting for were key destroyed and will never be delivered. Im certain because of the lawlessness that the democrats are dangerously silent about, the delivery of mail in portland, seattle, chicago, new york, and minneapolis and other sities cities have been delayed. If you want to talk defunding. Instead of democratic mayors defunding the police, i think we need to make sure Law Enforcement in every American City are well funded so they can protect not just the post office if silts that handle our mail but people who deliver our mail so there are cards, letters, and gifts and election ballots can be delivered. So instead of pushing a conspiracy for us, we should be here making sure that Law Enforcement has the resources needed to protect the property and lives of American Families in these cities under siege. That will help make sure the mail is delivered on time. And people will feel safe in getting it from their mailbox or the post office n that regard the silence of the democrats in this chamber is deafening. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman reserves. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney i now recognize the distinguished chairman of the ways and Means Committee for two minutes, representative richard neal from massachusetts. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Neal first let me thank chairwoman maloney for her good work on this very issue. I rise to condemn postmaster general dejoys assault on the u. S. Postal service. The organizational and operational changes he has been implementing are a betrayal at this moment of the American People. They are turning their backs on seniors and veterans in pittsfield, north adams, springfield, and south bridge who rely upon the Postal Service for their medications and other essential services. The postmaster general is dismantling a lifeline for people in every Community Across the commonwealth, but his actions particularly harm those who live in some of the most rural areas in western massachusetts. These mail delays and disruptions will be harlful at any time, but they are down right deadly during this pandemic. Families and Small Businesses are desperatel trying to stay safe and afloat as the crisis rages on and the Postal Service play as Critical Role in their survival. Who else suffers due to the postmaster generals actions . The hardworking men and women who process and deliver our mail, essential workers. Hes proadvising jobs for generations that have been a pathway to the middle class, particularly in marginalized communities. Our nations economy and the Peoples Health rely upon the Postal Service. So, too, does american democratcy. Millions will use this indefensible tool to cast their ballots this year. They should not be discouraged, they should be edge couraged by the postmaster general. The postmaster general is directly attacking the fundamental rights and wellbeing of all americans. I call upon him to step down now. His approval is urgently needed as are all provisions in delivering for america act. I strongly support this legislation and call on my colleagues to do the same. A reminder, his support right now is urgently needed to reverse what hes been doing and saying. I yield back my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman reserves. The gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comber mr. Speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from ohio, mr. Jordan. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Jordan i thank the gentleman for yielding. The democrats talk about a slight delay in mail delivery the last several weeks. Well, of course. Would you want to deliver mail in portland today . City thats been under siege for 90some days . I bet theres delays in portland, seattle, minneapolis, chicago, new york, i he bet thats where the delays are. In fact how do you deliver mail to a chop zone . How do you do that . They wouldnt let them in. Come on, we know the facts are the facts. The Postal Service has more money today than they had this time last year. They got 14 billion cash reserves. They have a 10 billion line of credit we gave them in the cares act. The postmaster general is moving some sorting machines and removing some mail collection boxes. The same thing every postmaster general has always done. In fact, between 2011, 2016 the Obamabiden Administration removed 12,000 mail collection boxes. Oh, my goodness. Its happening again. We are moving some boxes. Somehow thats a thats a reason to give 25 billion to the Postal Service and create all this Conspiracy Theory that what not my words, the wall street journal called it that that the democrats are doing. Whats really going on here . Do you really want to focus on some concerns the post office has. We have a bipartisan bill bill that the late chairman cummings and mark meadows worked on. Mark meadows. I dont even think i know the chairwoman hasnt talked to him about this. The expert on this issue on our side, oh, by the way, he happens to have a pretty important job in this town. Pretty important job. You guys didnt even talk to him. They had a bipartisan bill. If you want to work on bipartisan concerns and solutions to some problems, thats fine. Thats not what this is about. That is not what this is about. This is all about politics. You dont want to address real issues. Too busy defunding the police. Too busy not denouncing the mob thats running so many of our cities. This is all about politics. First it was the russia collusion. This committee was the Michael Cohen hearing. I remember that. When he came first big hearing of this congress. First announced witness of this committee. Came and lied to us seven times. Then it was the mueller report. Then it was the ukraine fake impeachment. And now its the white house is putting mailbox in cages and whatever you are saying now. The American People see this for what it is. They see this for what it is. You want Real Solutions we can have had them. You could have worked with chief of staff meadows. You didnt want to do that. You wanted politics. If anyone should know it should be the chairwoman of this committee who had to wait six weeks after the election day to get the results of her election. Imagine what the democrats want to do, throw live ballots out there to everyone, that was just one primary, congressional primary election, imamin what they want to do 150 billion ballots. Thats what the democrats want. Imagine what thats going to be like. Thats where these guys want to go. We should work on Real Solutions. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Jordan instead of this charade. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney i now recognize an outstanding member of the committee, the vice chair of the committee on oversight and reform, representative jimmy gomez from california. The speaker pro tempore for how much time . Mrs. Maloney two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Gomez someone is lying, mr. Speaker. On one side you have the white house and postmaster general. On the other side you have the hardworking men and women of the u. S. Postal service. The president and the postmaster general say theres nothing to see here. Nothing to see. They tell us that their operational changes are meant to help the Postal Service. The Postal Service workers whose job it is to deliver the mail day in and day out are saying Something Different. They are telling us that they are falling behind on processing packages because of these operational changes. And as a result, they are seeing bugs and rodents swarming around containers of rotten food and meat and animals. Now my republican colleagues say that this is a Conspiracy Theory. But i say to them, you cant smell a Conspiracy Theory. There is dying animals, rotten food, rotten meat, rats, flies. You cant see that in a Conspiracy Theory. I want them to open their eyes because their constituents, my constituents are suffering because of this deliberate attempt to sabotage the u. S. Postal service. And their constituents, seniors and veterans who depend on fast delivery of their medicines. The Small Businesses who depend on the u. S. Postal service to stay afloat. And every american who wants to partake in our democracy safely during this pandemic. Mr. Speaker, i can tell you which side i believe. The employees of the u. S. Postal service. It is with them in mind that i strongly support the passage of h. R. 8015, the delivering for america act. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman reserves. The gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comber mr. Speaker, i yield one minute to the gentleman from california, the republican leader, mr. Mccarthy. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Carthy sorry, speaker. Couldnt hear you. I urge everyone to be calm. The polls is not incapacitated. Postal service is not incapacitated. It is still worthy of delivering mail. Those are not my words, those arent even words of republican. They are the words of ruth goldway, a democrat, former postal commissioner, and clinton appointee who served for 18 years under three president s. Based on the facts she says the Postal Service is perfectly capable of handling election mail. Unfortunately, we have bad news for her. This majority didnt get the message. Instead of listening to the experts or following the facts, democrats are wasting precious time spreading Speaker Pelosis mailbox myths. To have n opportunity bipartisanship. I heard words on this floored oday, mr. Speaker, essential, critical that we are here. I applaud the few democrats on the other side who are willing show. I know if you cannot make it paperworkhave to sign that your health will not allow you to be here. The speakers bringing us back a saturday because its so ritical to be here right now, this moment, in this time. Nethird on the other side either thinks otherwise. Now, lets go through some of versus facts. Myth number one the postal sabotaged. Being the Postal Service is properly for the election and beyond. We said it many times here, its through mpletely august, 2021. Postal ccording to the service. Longterm service has challenges. But they predate anything about administration. Tojed. T being be a sabotaged. Removing mailboxes is uncommon for alarm. E its shocking we have country this up onrs putting instagram we need to be back here saturday. But little did we know during obamabiden years more than 12,000 mailboxes were removed from communities. Rush into a d we saturday to have a bill that you up, to 1 3 ofrked the democrats who would not show. The Postal Service is actually constantly moving mailboxes from growth areas. Lume kind of a smart thing to do. Cases, they replace them with more modern versions. Saw a picture where they actually had a lock in the front. You have town hall meetings. Of mail gets stolen. So they were protecting the packages but still allowing you letter in. This isnt Voter Suppression. Its routine maintenance. Three Postal Service doesnt have the absenteeto handle more ballots. 471 ostal Service Delivers million pieces of mail on an day. Ge little known fact, people mail every single year. With all the advancements we put n the Postal Service, with the technology of our own life, do ou know what equals of what year this 471 million . 1985. The exact we did in but we do it different than 1985. We have more technology. Of that, the postmaster general actually the capacity with its no Uncertain Terms to the senate yesterday. The Postal Service released this. If all americans vote by mail, ballots, over the course of this election, it 75 of what they deliver in a single day. Mr. I dont want to claim, speaker, all the democrats think myth. S not a maybe thats why 1 3 didnt show today. Im not sure. Was bad. Their health im not sure thats the case either. Even the New York Times isnt the House Democrats obvious untruths. S it was reported earlier this month, experts agree that the Postal Service has the raw apacity to absorb the additional ballots even if 150 Million People decided to vote mail. Myth number four the democrats legislation will make fiscally service sustainable. Ou are not fixing any of the fundamentals. Youre not even taking the bill on with a ent years republican and a democrat, with lijah cummings and mark meadows. Two who will say come from ifferent walks of life, from a philosophy, but found Common Ground when it came to the post office. What lly fix the core of the problems are, but thats not today. Re here so as the democrats perpetuate stunt, political unfortunately, their serious goes unmet. Priority. Ws real this week, we learned that 71 of Small Businesses have their protection loan. They spent it all. Anticipate they will need more Financial Support over the next 12 months. Wasnt critical enough to be here. Because these are real people real families. Hey dont expect miracles from us, but they do expect us to at least care. Of rtunately, not one piece legislation, this socalled emergency session, is about the future. Or their nor are we working to protect the Vaccine Research and support operation warp speed. Nope. House democrats are doing what last two ne for the years theyre putting politics before people. Month, Speaker Pelosi said to us, we cant go home until relief package is complete. I guess we know thats not true. Wants to keep her word this time as well. This guess well go home saturday. Good news for 1 3 of the democrats. To go anywhere. Theyre already home. Her liberal not get wish list, she sent members home. Guess good news for some americans. Those who stayed home and vote, they still got paid. But those Small Businesses that are running out, that were here this body right now that we can do something about, those on unemployment we can do something you have the majority. We dont. We are not allowed to bring it to the floor. Can. But you picked a crisis of funded. G thats already you cant spend the money you want to give them. Why . Ecause they got 14 billion sitting in the bank and another from. Llion they can pull but the Small Businesses dont. The families that cant pay rent, they dont. Vaccine . Bout the something this week. You had the shadow voting scheme. Permission toself vote from home until october 2. Bet. Peaker, ill take a ill make a bet on this floor right now, and maybe even a prediction. Gets extended again and probably goes a few days election in november. Who would like to take that bet with me . Thatuch do you want to get extended all the way through . What does that mean to the people . Well, it means the Majority Party and democrats have cast 2,520 votes and counting from home. Unconstitutional. It doesnt matter. Ts such a big crisis that were called back. Theres plenty of room on the side. On the other it means a democrat member can vote. N from his boat to im not making that up. That actually happened. Means another democrat can play hooky to go watch a space launch thats not even in his own district. It means democrats collect a while the hardworking americans have to pay for their vacation. 68 y, it means that democrats, 1 3 of their caucus, didnt even care enough to show p for this socalled emergency session. Its critical. It. Heard you say we cannot wait. Day. Nnot wait one we need to be here and now. Now, i believe thats true, but about the post office. But about those millions of that need us, need us act. Very time we brought legislation to this floor dealing with the covid situation, it seems to me the able to hold it up. I dont know. Maybe you want to try to hold it up past the election. Seems to me that would be playing politics. Me that would be a dir dereliction of duty. Its not how you empower the people in washington. It. How you dilute this is leadership malpractice. This is shameful, and this is embarrassing. Speaker, our first postmaster general that ive franklin, of, ben could have been talking about lostmajority when he said, time is never found again. As a majority, democrats have distractioncused on than solutions for the American People. Weakness, most partisan history,nt in american to politicizing the pandemic and stopping relief for american spreading a now debunk Conspiracy Theory about a Postal Service. Democrats have failed the American Public. It failed the laid off workers, who amilies, the students are waiting for help. The Small Businesses, the doctors, the nurses that are help. G for the researchers, the scientists ho are developing a vaccine, theyre waiting for help. But you have not failed veryone, because this majority said, no. They did, however, say yes to china. A few weeks just a bill to was sanction anyone who would hack and to our panies institutions, who are working on than ever aster before that would only slow it down to save lives. Opportunity to tell those countries, work with us, us. T steal from but your voice was heard loud clear. All the democrats showed up that day. 2 3 of you voted no on the same day that it was that two chinese were hacking in to our vaccine. Said. What you i heard the majority leader said it was an m. T. R. Was. It why . Because you dont give us an amendment. Why was it an m. T. R. . Because at the time it was essential, it was critical, it was reported on that day. You could act that day. To act. Try needed us but you said no. Up for the chinese that day. The chinese what communist party has on the democrats, mr. Speaker, but it powerful. It must be so powerful. Know there are bills in the senate that passed that wouldled ho them accountable that but hold them accountable they cant come to the floor. I heard the reports from the f. B. I. That theyre playing in they do have, that a person they want to win, to but new person in office, thats not critical to you. Come critical that we oday to provide 25 billion to an organization that republicans democrats that commissioners said they do not need. Need it . They they looked at their bank account because they have 14 billion. Them cares act we gave another 10 billion to sit there. They do not need because they said they could deliver every mail. Of there would be only 75 what they do in a single day. But mr. Speaker, i do not want to say all the democrats feel way. Because 1 3 of them didnt show up for work today. Their own leader, the speaker, said they needed to come. When we passed on this floor Something Different havent done in more than 230 years, to let somebody on a boat, call in and still get paid, said you that. Not do you could only do it if your at need. S i quite sure a hospital is on a boat in a lake but to be. Crats it must they wont vote on a bill that i proposed to sanction chinese hackers who attack our research. Im not sure thats partisan. Thought that was pure american. Americans. Lp working it wont help protect our vaccines. Stood that day proudly in supporting of the party. Communist im sorry, mr. Speaker. Visions too great for a so small with our challenges before us. Showed up. But you know why we showed up . For the Small Businesses, we showed up for those unemployed, we showed up those School Districts that want to find a way to open safely. E showed up for the doctors, the nurses. I know. Up on the board, there will be a lot of democrat votes. 1 3 t know where those are. Maybe theyre on the boat. A be theyre watching spaceship. Im not sure. Oprah. Ome are watching but one thing i do know, its essential that were here, but here for other reasons. We should be here for the reasons that the American Public us to. Do so much we can better. This country needs us. We should rise to the occasion, for a vision so small is what i see today. Back. D the speaker pro tempore members are reminded to address their remarks to the chair. Mrs. Maloney oy now yield one minute to the distinguished majority leader, congressman steny hoyer, from maryland. Mr. Hoyer i thank the gentlelady for yielding. I had not necessarily intended to speak after the minority leader but cannot help to respond to respond to what the minority leader had to say. First of all, he practices the president s favorite tactic, distract, speak about that which is not relevant. All the democrats are voting. They may be voting at that machine or that machine over there or voting at that machine or may be voting at that machine back there or may end up voting by proxy, which you didnt like and the minority leader sued and the court said its up to the house to decide its own rules. En we passed the heroes act 100 days ago tomorrow, what did the minority leader say . Lets wait and see what happens. And what has happened since then . Thousands, tens of thousands of and e have gotten sick thousands and thousands of people have died in those days. Lets wait and see. And what did the majority leader, who could put a bill on the floor, what did he say . Et the states go bankrupt. Mr. Speaker, there has been a lot of talk about pu bring this bill, that bill or the other bill, the senate is controlled by your party, i tell my minority friends in the house. They havent passed a single bill in 70 days, in 100 days. Not a single bill. Why . Because they would have to compromise. And you say we need to bring things to the floor. The minority leader had a man named garland from february to january, when obama was the president of the United States and refused to consider it. You think there is a founding father that thought advice and consent meant they could ignore the president s nominations . I think not. Some people talk about, oh, there are very important things to do. One of them, the gentlelady from 84,631 deaths since heroes passed. Lets wait. No action in the republicancontrolled and led United States senate. Dont whine to me about what you want on the floor. Dont whine to me about we could have done that, this and the other. I was talking to the chief of staff at the white house and i kidded him and said you know, when you were here in the house and had Republican Leadership and they offered solutions, you undermind them. Who said so . John boehner said so. You have the opportunity to make a deal. Now we control the house and very frankly the majority leader cannot pass a bill because 20 of your members in the United States senate want to do nothing and just tell the people who are suffering, who have unemployment and dont have child care, you are on your own. I have heard all this talk about what we could have done. Do it. Do it. Nancy pelosi and secretary. Nuchin got four deals done most of you voted for them. And they passed overwhelmingly in a bipartisan fashion. A knew made a decision, nope, no more. Now we have it speculated if we dont take action and have a much morrow bus and plan for dealing with covid19, which we dont have and havent had, because this president called it a hoax. You dont have to respond to hoaxes. Thats what he called it, a hoax. And of course, if its a hoax, you dont respond, and he didnt. And c. D. C. It may be up to 200,000 by the end of this year. Still you have passed no bill in the United States. We sent a bill over there. You dont like it, thats fine. Pass your own. You control the senate. Pass your own, and then well go to conference. And see which bill is better or maybe well put them together. But what has the Senate Majority ader done, he reduced the 1 trillion down to 500 bill quon which the governor my state said is only sufficient to help the states because they are hemorrhaging revenue and on the front lines of responding to this crisis. Now others of you have said, this is a thing, this is not real. Madam chair, will you yield for a question . Have you spoken about the report that you just released from the postmaster germs advice . Have you done that . The speaker pro tempore yes i have. Mr. Hoyer the new documents released by the committee today are part of the p. M. G. Briefing. We hope he reads his briefings. The president said he doesnt read his briefings, so he doesnt know about the russian payments to kill american soldiers and has not responded to that date. The new documents being released by the committee are today, a presentation prepared directly for the postmaster germ last week on august 12. Nine days ago. They provide a detailed assessment of performance trends over the past year. My friend from ohio, oh, this is a problem, this is a fraud. Maybe he didnt read the p. M. G. Advisory. According to these documents, there have been a significant drop in Service Standards beginning in july, first class, marketing and first class and priority mail. Postmaster general has never admitted to the sweeping delays and service caused. He said we feel bad in what the dip in the level of service has been. So he knows there was a dip in service right after he made these changes. Now what do we know . He is a big supporter of the president , gave money to the president. Secondly, we know he was appointed by the essentially, elected by the board of governors, all elected by President Trump who asked for the 25 billion we are talking about. We know that the president of the United States wants to suppress the vote. Why . He said so. He said so. First meeting i had with the president of the United States with Republican Leaders and Democratic Leaders just shortly after he was inaugurated, he said i got the majority of the votes. In it hadnt been fraud and all those people who voted illegally, i would have gotten the majority votes. He only got 62 million, 70 million voted for somebody else and the majority of the people voted for hillary clinton. I challenge one of you to name me two members of the Electoral College in 2016. You cant do it. The American People voted for hillary clinton. The president of the United States wants to send maybe with no name tags and just sort of brown suits on, to the polls of america. Never in my life, and i have run probably for office more times than anybody here but don young. Ver have i seen armed troops there at the polls to intimidate people. My state checks for fraud. And by the way, all those fraudulent votes that donald trump said had been cast, not a conviction. He controls the justice department, he controls backmably the f. B. I. Going to what i said about this crisis that was occurring that you say doesnt exist in the post office. On january 15, 2013, we voted for a crisis, 50 million americans living in the northeast had been saveraged by Superstorm Sandy savaged by superstorm sand. You were in charge, only 49 of ms. Not mr. Meadows, not foxx, 49 voted for that bill and 178 voted no. No crisis. 50 million americans, Superstorm Sandy, people being flooded out of their businesses and their homes. No crisis. My suggestion is, wherever you are and you came here and you can vote in person, isnt that wonderful, i think your vote would count, but your leadership has said, dont worry about the 86,000 people who have died. The minority leader said the crisis is gone. I dont know where he thinks it went. Shortly visiting the neighborhoods in my state and so the report says the mail has substantially gone down since the postmaster general aiding and abetting the president in the United States wish to suppress the vote. Now, i dont know how many read 18 u. S. Code 1703, but it says whoever being a Postal Service officer or employee and says other secrets, did he tains, mail ys, whoever delays which was intended to be conveyed by mail, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years or both. Now i had a press conference with senator warner, senator van llen and six other members including Eleanor Holmes norton, one of the chairs. Five minutes before we held that conference, the postmaster general said he was going to stop doing what he was doing. I guess its because he thought, what im doing is great, everybody will support what im doing. Or did he think, i got my hand caught in the cookie jar and i better stop . What do you think is the most rational determination that he issued this before he issued the release. That he thought it was fine, he could on defend it and why in heavens name did he change his mind . Why . Because he knew what he did was wrong and read that briefing and service plummetted since he took the action and he was putting the mail, prescription drugs, Social Security checks, eterans checks at risk. That seems to be the logical conclusion. And as the law says, if you act and you delay the mail, you commit a crime subject to five years in jail and a substantial fine. Madam speaker, i want to thank you for your leadership. Postmaster germ attempted to back down to set the Postal Service for fail tur just moments before we were supposed to speak before the postal headquarters right down the street and in his testimony yesterday, he indicated that he and President Trump are simply hitting pause. They dont care about the service that the postmaster germs report said, they just hit pause. Why . Because they are hoping that it will go away, that the wrongdoing that they are perpetrating, not what was done in the past, that yes, we should make Service Efficient and effective, we should. That is not why this was done and look at the president s statement that he wanted to suppress the vote, particularly of minorities. More blacks voted in the last election. What did he say . Postmaster general indicated no additional changes would be implemented. Hes not going to back up. Even though his reports says service. Nishing why . He can pause all he wants, but dont give the post Office Department the tools with which to do the job, no matter says about voting by mail, i am glad to make sure first class mail treatment as matter of fact, there should be super first class. Voting for president of the United States has got to be the a citizen ant thing does in this election year. It ought to be treated as such by the Postal Department. Ven after three months, President Trump and Senate Republicans continue to refuse to take action on heroes act. About that. Thats why Congress Needs to take action now that will ensure will continuevice to deliver to america through this pandemic, just as its reliably did for our public. Millions obtain medications, receive paychecks and access vital service. In Rural Services particular, the Postal Service thats the irony the ural communities, Postal Service is probably even important. This year in particular, it will crucial role the Postal Service in help tens of millions f americans stay safe from covid19. 86,000 americans have died since heroes act. E you think theres some false. Seems to ty leader think, oh, people not coming to congress, not wanting to get on not want to come to washington, d. C. And go home and have to sequester themselves for 4 days, oh, theyre just playing games. If you got the validity of their vote, say so. But whether i cast it far over or near here, its the same vote. Its my vote. Peoples voice. So angry from americans across political spectrum that trump and postmaster general dejoy sabotage people rom casting their vote by the mail. The president said he wanted to suppress the vote. Up. Not make it he said so. By the way, he votes by mail, of course. You all understand that. I dont know that he sends an votes. Rd down when he maybe ought to check on that. Cards. Interested in i. D. Lets see if the president of the United States sends an i. D. Florida. To they employ tactics such as overtime pay, reassigni reassigning experienced managers, etc. , etc. , etc. To public pressure maybe you guys dont have a open. Tuent office and gals over there. But every one of my members, tell me theyre hearing people. Usands of their congress, therefore, must take action to prevent them from minds and ging their causing massive postal delays in ahead. Ks remember, he said hes just elayed his changes, which caused the fall in service. Delivering for america act, what the Postal Department has done since before adopted. Itution was im not going to through what it will require. Require. What it will but it would particularly require and im so pleased, madam chair, that you included your bill first class reatment, because voting is first class priority in america. Ow, im going to close with this. So many of you said, this bills pass. Ing to youre wasting your time. Ou shouldnt send it over there. If we did that, we wouldnt do anything unless the president do it. U can and then we would salute and sir, were going to do it. But if you dont want it, sir, fisa 126 want voted for fisa but if you change it it well within 24 hours, which is what you did. Then, again, we wouldnt have sent Campaign Finance reform over there because it. Nnell hasnt considered we wouldnt have sent investment n infrastructure and jobs, which mcconnell has not put on the floor. We wouldnt have centre storing ensuring lgbt r equality or ensure equal pay for hasnt cause mcconnell put equal pay for women on the floor. For ring background checks safer communities. There are only 90 of americans so i can r that understand why mcconnell said, look, theyre 10 against it. To put it on the floor. For consideration. Havent gotten noticed, you havent been included in the committee, etc. Cconnell doesnt allow anybody to vote. Leader. Meeting the challenge of climate hange, of course, you guys many of you dont believe Climate Change is real. I understand that. Roviding for justice in policing. Did we send it over there . Why . Because we want a fair, more equal, more racially conscious nation. Conscious in the sense we dont judge people on skin. Lor of their we strength a strengthened an a. C. A. In a pandemic would be helpful. Floor. The pension, hasnt been put on the floor. Ou tell me, oh, this cant pass. It cant pass perhaps because the president of the United States tells you that hes not it. And so it doesnt pass. Closing and i know many thank god in say, vote for this bill. Democrats. You ought to vote for it for your people. For the people in your rural counting ods who are on the Postal Department to bring that prescription drug, maintain ritical to their health or save their lives. Theought to vote for it for person, over one million getting ocial security checks in the mail. Thats why you ought to vote for it. Us. For and you ought to vote for it ecause you want everybody to vote. You want everybody to democracy. In this you want an election that, like so many other countries, has 80 people participating. The 86,001 nt to be who dies because they went to and aggregated together and got covid19. Thats what this is about. Our people able to their pate safely in democracy. Vote for this bill. Partisan bill. Its a bill that says republicans ought to be safe in voting. Ought to be safe in voting. Independents ought to be safe in voting. To hats what they choose do. This is a good bill. Americas for democracy. Its a bill for making sure our people are connected through the mail. I thank the chair for bringing it to the floor. Vote yes. Urge a yes vote for all members and yield back the time. E of my the speaker pro tempore members are reminded to refrain in in personalities toward the president and to direct their remarks to the chair. Reserves. Woman the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comer may inquire about left . Ch time we have the peaker pro tempore gentleman from kentucky has 25 minutes. The gentlewoman from new york has 24 minutes. Mr. Comer mr. Speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from ohio, mr. Latta. Latta i thank my friend, the Ranking Member, for yielding. Mr. Speaker, i rise in this bill, which has not gone through regular order. T was put together in response to misinformation and conspiracies online. Closure of the toledo, ohio, Processing Plant in 2012, northwest ohio has been sent to the metroplex processing michigan. N as my constituents can attest, his new arrangement has not worked. We have experienced countless lost mail troyed and for years, including, including 1,000 absentee ballots election. 6 general hat is why i have continuously engaged with the usps to get they have and committed to me to implement procedures for election ohio. Als in unfortunately, under h. R. 8015, prohibited ld be from making any changes to their operation if its determined the changes would impede prompt, reliable, and efficient services. Doesnt specifically say who will be making this determination, so its safe to will be the unelected bureaucrats, individuals who the me for years that preferred way to sort mail would be through the metroplex. Legally, bill could legally prohibit absentee in ots from being processed ohio base sorting facilities. In new conscious to support this democrat political threatens ecause it the rights of my constituents right to be heard in november. Speaker, i urge a no vote on this legislation. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from kentucky reserves. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney i now yield three to the distinguished majority whip from the great tate of south carolina, representative jim clyburn. Tempore the o gentleman is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Clyburn thank you, madam speaker. For nk the gentlelady yielding me the time. Madam speaker, i rise today in support of h. R. 8015, delivering america act. This legislation is vital to rotecting the United States Postal Service. I maintain that the post office s the thread that holds the fabric of our great country together. Postal service existed before our nations constitution. Lifeline that connected farflungi farflung communities. Founders believed so strongly in the importance of the post office that they in our d it constitution. The post office provides a ritical Public Service that we cannot allow to become a potential political pawn for the dysfunctional, disruptive, and i are say, disastrous administration. This administration has why strated time and again government should not be run business. Businesses exist to make profits. The post office and the whole of our government exists to provide services. Called the it is ostal service, not the postal corporation. Today, we are acting to reinforce our Postal Service vital which provides services, like delivering edications, Social Security enefits, income and tax payments, veterans benefits, assistance forms, and absentee to all american communities, however remote they be. Americans depend on the on dependence on the Postal Service has increased during this pandemic, as we ontime delivery of mail decrease significantly. Provides the on covid lion in emergency funding to the Postal Service hat was unanimously requested by the bipartisan board of governors. It also prohibits and even rolls by the post made office since january 1 of this year. Prohibition lasts through the end 2021, or until of the pandemic, whichever is later. That means, no post office can e closed, consolidated, or reduced hours. No prohibition or restriction of overtime pay. No changes that will delay mail increase the volume of undelivered mail. Removal of post office infrastructure, like sorting mailboxes. This legislation protects the our democracy by requiring that all election mail as first class, which eans ballots must be postmarked, processed, and that d on the same day they are received. And i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from kentucky. Mr. Comer i yield two minutes to the gentleman from arizona, mr. Biggs. The speaker pro tempore jarninged. Mr. Biggs i thank the Ranking Member and i ask unanimous consent to submit two articles from periodicals into the record. The Postal Service is delivering the mail securely and on time. That was the testimony of the postmaster germ but you dont trust the postmaster general. Takes care of over four million pieces of mail every day. You dont trust him because you are going to give him an additional 25 billion. You dont trust him but going to give him 25 billion when he has 15 billion cash on hand. We dont trust this guy and give him 25 billion extra. Moreover, moreover, this is a crisis. We want reforms, we want changes and dont trust the current postmaster and proscribe any kind of efforts to make the Postal Service work better and we are going to stop that. And not om stop that, but give a cause of action, new cause of action to trial lawyers against the usps. Thats whats going on in this bill. I find that intriguing. Unesco and e of talking theater of the absurd here. Thats what were talking about. Democrats call this a crisis but prohibit reforms and changes. Think of the irony of that. This illustrates the democrats overarching thing, if you send money, it will solve the problem, even if there is no real problem. This is not a money issue. This is not an acute issue. This is a longterm problem that has been there for multiple administrations. Now to come in at the last minute and heres part the speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Biggs this is rich mr. Comer may i yield 30 more seconds. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman has 30 seconds. Mr. Biggs here is the richest part of this irony. We are going to vote on this bill today and have a hearing on monday in the committee. That is the richest of the absurdity that is going to cost us 25 billion, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the jam arizona yields. The gentleman from new york. Mrs. Maloney there is no cause of action in this bill and doesnt hinder any efficiency that would speed up the mail but stops any action that slows down the mail until the end of this pandemic. I now recognize for two minutes an extremely valuable member of the committee, representative pressley from massachusetts. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from massachusetts is recognized for two minutes. Ms. Pressley i rise today to say enough. A blatant attempt to suppress the vote, the occupant attacks the legitimacy of the elections he and his family have used mailin ballots. Hypocrisy which should look to my colleagues across the aisle and say the sham here is the patriotismism that you allege to espouse and stand by and complicit in the dismantling of the you United States Postal Service, disrupting services. Patriotismism. They hire more veterans than anyone else. Veterans rely on them to receive lifesaving medication. Enough with the criminal corruptness mismanagement. The changes he has brought to our Postal Service are brazen acts of sabotage and to delay mail delivery, this is a hell of way to put postal workers and are worried about the impact on services and fear for their livelihoods for the causes they have made to all of our offices. How dare you. While the Trump Administration and its allies to gaslight the American People, we listen to our constituents and how it has disrupted their lives. What you are referring to as fake news. Constituents, who waited for two weeks from a client to arrive. And post office delays means i have less assurance for the money i worked for or another requested an absentee ballot so he and his pregnant wife can vote and in the massachusetts 7th congressional district, nine mail sorting machines have been removed. It is time to pass the delivery for america act. The speaker pro tempore members are reminded to address their remarks through the chair. The gentlelady yields. The gentleman from kentucky yields. Mr. Comer i yield two minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr. Williams. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Williams i rise in opposition to h. R. 8015 and the manufactured crisis that my democratic colleagues have created. The American People have been told they cannot trust the Postal Service can do their job and that could not be further from the truth. The Postal Service has more than enough funding to operate and have not even acted upon the loan the treasury offered back in july. The sad truth is if the Postal Service has been financially unsustainable and without reform for over a decade and the bill today will do nothing to improve the shortfalls p with this agency. We should be working together to address certain problems we have while being conscious of the taxpayer dollars that have been used for bailouts over the years. Madam speaker, i have a rural district in texas and we rely upon the Postal Service that my constituents would otherwise go without. We should dedicate time to help this but there is an actual crisis among us that should be demanded that we take immediate attention. In the car business, you cant charge Sticker Price if you dont have a vehicle delivered and dont sell used cars that dont start. We arent delivering results today. The crisis is caused by the covid19 pandemic. Main street america and families across texas are wanting results. But my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would ignore this truth and politicize a Conspiracy Theory. If my colleagues are serious about postal reform, lets get to work. But the legislation before us isnt the answer and frankly a waste of time. I should be home with my family and my grandchildren. As we say in texas, we say this dog wont hont. Let me tell you, this dog wont hunt. And lets make the Postal Service run like a business. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney i yield two minutes to another great member of the committee, representative tlaib. Ms. Tlaib do you hear that . Thats our democracy crumbling. I want all of my neighbors and america to know why the peoples house is here for an emergency vote while senator leader mcconnell went on vacation. Our u. S. Postal service is under attack. Let it be clear, this administration is waging an authoritarian campaign to sabotage this election by manipulating the election to suppress our vote and maligning people in the process. This is not a Conspiracy Theory. This is fascism. We will not stand for this now or ever. In michigan, right now, machines sorting 35,000 pieces of mail per hour have disappeared from post alpha silts. Brave workers are blowing the whistle and saying they havent seen anything like this. I say to the white house, hands off the United States Postal Service. Lets make it clear through this law to fund our Postal Service and undo these harmful attacks. I yield. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from michigan yields back. The gentleman from kentucky. Mr. Comer i yield two minutes to the gentleman from north. Mr. Bishop this unserious legislation, even all the yelling across the aisle and straying off topic, they underscore a contrast, democrats whip up hysteria, republicans show up to work. You call a saturday session, supposedly because of emergency. Republicans are here but about 70 democrats dont show up and been the pattern all summer. Republicans come to work. Democrats dial it in sometimes from the fishing boat. You say the virus keeps you from congregating to work but you encourage the wrong outside the postmasters residence and representative grijalva not at work today. You can congregate to whip up hysteria but just not to work. Louis dejoy is showing up to work. Estifying yesterday, he calmly debunked about the blue boxes and sorting machines. Mopped he will testify but democrats fan hysteria today without waiting for facts even though they dont show up. Lets drop the hysteria and show up to work. Hem cans yield our help. And i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney i now recognize for 1. 5 minutes, representative sarbanes from maryland. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from maryland is recognized for 1. 5 minutes. Mr. Sarbanes i thank the chair woman of the committee and i support this bill strongly. I want to speak to what the postmaster general admitted yesterday. He called it a dip in service. He timely admitted that. I want to tell you what the dip looks like in my district. O, in all of 2019, our constituent Service Folks in over 11 cases to deal with delays and Service Problems with the mail. 11 cases in 2019. So far this year, 106 now im not talking about people just calling in and complaining, because the mail is late and then they hang up the phone and so forth, this is where they got real concerns about what is happening. 106 this year compared with 11 last year and 103 of those in the last four weeks. Thats not a dip in service. Thats a collapse of service. And it tracks exactly the time that louis dejoy has been on the job. And heres whats so terrible. When you attack the Postal Service from within, which is what he is doing, it has the effect of trying to separate the postal workers that trust them. People have a favorable opinion of the Postal Service. Thats what this legislation does. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comer i yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Fitzpatrick. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds. Mr. Fitzpatrick thank you for yielding. I stand today with the letter carriers and postal workers of the United States Postal Service. It must be funded so my constituents can receive can receive the Timely Service that the post office has provided of us. I will vote in favor. Republicans and democrats must come together and address the serious challenges that usps has been facing for quite some time now. I look forward to work with my colleagues on Bipartisan Solutions to move all of our heroes forward and support our heroes at the Postal Service. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney i now recognize distinguished vice chair of our clark. Katherine ms. Clark 9 days ago we provided much needed relief to the American People suffering. What was the reaction from the g. O. P. A slug . D First Responders and teachers, Mitch Mcconnell said let them go bankrupt. E said lets fund for hospitals and death tolls soar over 100,000 . Donald trump said it is what it is. Unemployment and eviction protection, not right now. And many may we also funded the post office, a Critical Service enshrined in our constitution. A lifeline to seniors and veterans like john who called from my hometown who had to wait an extra week to get his medication. Its a pillar of our democracy, allowing people to vote safely from home this fall. We are here today to defend this institution from slow delivery, the slow delivery, the removal of critical infrastructure. 12 sorting machines in my home state have been removed. When asked about this, mr. Dejoy said he they werent need. Donnell trump said he didnt want those ridiculous ballots delivered. We will not stand by while the post office is dismantled dismantled and millions of jobs are lost. Vote yes for the Postal Service, vote yes for the people, vote yes for democracy. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields. The gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comer i yield two and a half minutes to the gentleman from utah, mr. Curtis. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Curtis two and a half minutes. Mr. Curtis likemark i followed allegations surrounding the Postal Service. I spoke directly to utahs postal leadership. As i asked questions and waded through rumors, i learned several facts. First, the Postal Service needs additional funding. How much is debatable, but it has no bearing on their ability to handle upcoming mailin ballots. They have enough cash on hand to operate well into 2021. Second, the increased demand in mailin ballots does not stretch their capacity. Mailin ballots will increase demand on the system by a little over 1. 5 . In the words of utahs district director, not even a bump in volume. The day i spoke to him, utahs mail Delivery System was 500,000 letters under capacity. Third the allegation that theyre removing boxes and cutting overtime to thwart mailin ballots is not true. Boxes have been always been moved to adjust to demand. Likewise rumors that overtime is being cut so mailin ballots will be delayed is false. I confirmed this with utahs district director. In his words, never in my career have we left mail undelivered buzz of overtime. Fourth, concerns with mailin balloting have everything to do with state preparedness, not the Postal Service. States who allow ballots to be requested just four days before the election should be held responsible. Mailin ballots take listeninger to count, delays can be expected but not because of the Postal Service. Not sure who to believe . Ask your mail carrier. Ask them if theres anything less than 100 effort given by them to deliver mailin ballots and all mail and then make sure to thank them. Im grateful to the men and women who work so hard to deliver mail every day. We need a strong and vibrant Postal Service but this bill does not deliver. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields, the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney i yield one minute to the distinguished chair they have committee on health, ms. Eshoo of california. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. Ms. Eshoo thank you, madam speaker. Thank you to the distinguished chairwoman of the committee. Im here to speak on behalf of the Postal Service now country. Im here today because i view it as a Democratic Institution in our country. Im here today because the framers placed it in the constitution. Im here today because my constituents are not receiving their prescription drugs. Businesses are not receiving their mail. People are not receiving their mail. Im here today to speak on their behalf because they are outraged. Theyre outraged about two things that have happened. That the president has said and attacked mailin votes. Guess how votes are counted . Theyre carried by the mail service. And the postmaster general, instead of building it up, is dismantling it. Its over the top to see pictures of postal boxes being unhinged. Vote for the delivering for america act. The people deserve it. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comer i yield three minutes to the gentleman from louisiana, the republican whip, mr. Scalise. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Scalise thank you, madam speaker. I thank the gentleman from kentucky for yielding. When you think about why were here on a saturday, i would think if were being brought here on a saturday in the middle of a pandemic its to help the millions of families who are struggling madam speaker. I would think if were going to come here on a saturday it would be to help the millions of Small Business, the restaurants in south louisiana and new orleans that dont know if theyre going to open again because of where we are right now. In this pandemic you would think thats what we would be here for. But instead, madam speaker, why are we here . For a fabricated crisis. The wall street journal, nancy pelosi goes politically postal. Congress ought to be embarrassed by this evidencefree Conspiracy Theory. The New York Times. I was a Postal Service regulators for 18 year. Dont pan the service perfectly capable of handling election mail. That was a bill clintonera appointee. Then you look at, again this fabricated crisis that oh my gosh there are mailboxes being closed. Lets look at the record. During the obamabiden year, mailboxesyear, 11,560 removed. Where were the hearings for that . Where were the saturday votes to decry that they were closing mailboxs . It never happened because its not a real crisis. Even the postmaster general just testified yesterday, quote, the Postal Service is fully capable and committed to delivering the nations election mail fully and on time. Thats postmaster general. If you would have listened to him, i know theres a hearing monday, maybe if you would have waited to see what he actually said monday in this committee, you would have known that this is a fabricated crisis, but you knew that before. Madam speaker, they knew this was a fabricated crisis. In fact, when we talk about the money, oh my gosh, the post office is going to run out of munn. The problem is the facts decry even that. Theyve got a surplus of over 12 billion sitting in the bank today an then theyve got, this is the department of treasury, madam speaker a 10 billion line of credit they cant even access because theyve got too much money in the bank right now. Imagine Small Businesses, watch option a saturday, because they cant open, theyre not even sure if theyll be in business next week because they have no business in the bank and theyre weiring about this crisis, congress coming in on a saturday, then they find out the post office has over 12 billion in the bank, they have access to a line of credit of 10 billion from treasury that they cant get to because theyve got too much money in the bank. Right now its here. This is the letter from treasury. Its so important, madam speaker, that 68 democrats chose not even to show up today. 68. Are not even here today. Because this is a fake crisis. Its a fabricated crisis. Its a shame that instead of helping Small Businesses and families, theyre trying to scare the American People, when Everybody Knows theres enough money to carry out the mail, barack obama and joe biden took out over 11,000 post offices it was never even a problem. Got to vote against this i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney i recognize representative krishnamoorthi, the distinguished chair on economics and consumer policy in the government oversight and reform committee, 1 1 2 minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one and a half minutes. Mr. Krishnamoorthi i rise as a proud cosponsor of h. R. 8015, the delivering for america act. Madam speaker, the usps is under attack. In the last month, postmaster general dejoy has made irreversible changes causing mail delivery backlogs as long as three week. But dont just take my word for it. 1,612 constituents of mine have contacted us about delayed mail. Denise contacted us saying, i run a Small Business and rely on the post office to receive payment for my clients. Without payment i have no idea. Any delay in getting paid is a big hardship for me. In the past month, i have had to wait several weeks for payment. Take vanessas board for it. She says, quote, my insurance forces us to get our prescription delivered by mail. I have diabetes and need to take my meds or risk health problems. The usps is a service we all pay with our taxes and as a paying customer we need to demand that we get our service back now. The delivering for america act includes three important provisions, madam speaker. It reverses the dangerous operational changes implemented by postmaster dejoy. It includes 25 billion for relief for the usps. And it requires the usps to treat all official election mail as first class mail. I strongly urge my colleagues to support this legislation and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comer i yield three minutes to the gentleman from california, mr. Nunes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Nunes thank you, madam speaker. Thank you for the time. Since the election of President Trump, the most absurd conspiracy theories have been proclaimed as gospel by the entire Democratic Party and their media mouthpieces. Lets begin with the russian collusion hoax. The theory that trump was a secret russian agent who colewded with putin to steal the 2016 election from hillary clinton. The theory comprised many preposterous subconspiracies including several wild tales. For example, secret computer servers communicated with russians. Secret meet wgs russians occurred in prague. Secret russian Money Laundering from the trump campaign. And best of all, putin having a secret stash of nude pictures of trump and now the infamous pee tapes the democrats and their pickup trucks in the media spent several years searching all over europe for. The russia hoax implode bud you have to admire the democrats ability to jump from one debunked Conspiracy Theory to another without a hint of shame, embarrassment ment or selfreflection. The democrats supposedly convened us here today to protect americans from trumps latest nefarious plot. His alleged attempt to sabotage the Postal Service to steal the election. In the grand scheme of democratic Conspiracy Theory, one is scraping the bottom of the barrel. I suppose we can grant the democrats that the post Office Actually does exist. And it does deliver mail. But watching the jut rage on social media about missing mailboxes and antimail theft devices is rather sad. Good conspiracy theories have rich false details that tell a story. Like area 51, for example. But the democrats have grown a little lazy to develop the necessary back story. The Postal Service hoax is more akin to the earth is flat, nasa faked moon landings, that elvis is a live and that Paul Mccartney is dead. Even big foot an chupacabra at least yielded photographic evidence. In closing i want to thank my democratic colleagues for inviting us here far saturday afternoon matinee in august. I urge them next time to put more effort into their future conspiracy theories. You no locker have time to properly craft your fake news narratives, you can always have the Democratic National committee launder money to hire a british spy to go to your russian friends and develop another set of fake dossiers. Have a good afternoon, i urge a no vote. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore members are remined to address their remarks to the chair. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney i recognize for one minute the distinguished member of congress from massachusetts, congressman keating. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Keating for several years i was a letter carrier, working my way through college and grad school, working overtime as mail volume necessitated. It was understood then that was a necessity. I worked with dedicated postal workers, many of whom were veterans who persevered through emergencies, hurricanes, blizzards, floods. As the motto says, snow, rain, gloom of night. Now our country faces new emergencies. A pandemic that threatens lives and encumbers our basic rights like the right to vote safely. And an economic crisis where 600,000 Postal Service workers battled back providing economic stimulus and 1. 6 trillion in sales revenues. Its an economic and health care lifeline, a lifeline donnell trump is trying to sever to sabotage mailin voting he thinks will dampen his chances to cling to power. He is the gloom of night and it is our job, our duty, to throw sunlight his way and stop him. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comer may i inquire how much time we have remaining . The speaker pro tempore the gentleman has eight minutes remaining. The gentlewoman the gentlewoman from new york has 10 minutes remaining. Mr. Comer i yield one minute to the gentleman from michigan, mr. Walberg. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from michigan is recognized for one minute. Mr. Walberg i thank the gentleman and i thank the speaker. I was told in persuasion class many, many years ago, that if you had a weak argument, you shouted all the more. After hearing some of the leadership on the other side of the aisle, i guess they learned the same approach. A weak argument that isnt holding up. When i heard the majority leader talk about, this is for the people, this is for your people, i dont believe that at all. Mail carrier is working today. 68 democrats are not working today. And yet this is supposed to be something of importance. Last week we heard the convention start this postal deal going on. This is just a continuation of the democrat convention. I want you to know that nothing that has been said about supposedly what the president is attempting to do in defunding, in deflating, in stopping the vote, or the mail service, is true. My democrat colleagues know that as well. And i think thats why 68 chose to stay home today as opposed to coming here in a planned event that meant nothing other than politics. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney i now recognize for one minute the distinguished member from rhode island, representative langevin. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from roiled is recognized for one minute rhode island is recognized for one minute. Mr. Langevin i thank the gentlelady for yielding. Madam speaker, the post master generals attempts to push Forward Operational changes that delay the mailed are simply unacceptable the mail are simply unacceptable. My constituents depend on the u. S. Postal service. In the past week alone, i received over 1,000 constituent letters expressing confusion and anger over these changes that are planned and implemented. A senior wrote me expressing her alarm over what might happen if her diabetic husband failed to receive his medications on time. A constituent from wakefield, who has not missed an election since 1956, emailed me to ask if he should vote in person, despite being 85 years old with health concerns. No one should have to wait for lifesaving medications or risk their health to cast a coat cast a vote. I urge my colleagues to support this bill. Millions of americans are counting on us and we cannot let them down. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields. The gentleman from kentucky voids. Mr. Comer madam speaker, i yield one is recognized. Mr. Comer madam speaker, i yield one minute to the gentleman from texas, mr. Gohmert. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Gomez thank you. I thank my friend mr. Gohmert thank you. I thank my friend from kentucky. I am pleased that democrats here are upset about whats happened to the post office. My regret is, you didnt get upset during the Obama Administration when they were shutting down our post offices, not just getting rid of 12,000 mailboxes, shutting down Processing Centers and in my district, when they shut down the overton processing center, it meant mail going from tyler to long view or vice versa went to dallas, then to shreveport and back. And the Deputy Attorney general came to my office. Id been demanding a meeting with the post master general, but oh, no, no time for that. They had no decency. They tried to say 390 miles will be cheaper and quicker than going 30 miles, its an outrage what the Obama Administration did, including their post master general who was in office until june 15 of this year. Wake up. Lets complain about the post office and the obama years. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney i now recognize for one minute the distinguished member from tennessee, representative cohen. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman voice is recognized for one minute. Dave cowens thank you, madam chair mr. Cohen thank you, madam chair. The post master general was before a Senate Committee on friday. He was asked if he would put back in the sorters that he had removed. And he said no. I think thats because he had already done his dirty work, hed already slowed down the mail by taking those sorting machines out and the flat sorters as well, postal people tell me is causing great delays and will cause greater delays. He had already done it. He refused to put them back in. Why . Because the job was done and he didnt want to put those sorters back in to see that the mail was delivered. Hes in karl malone, he does not deliver. He is not the mailman. These postal sorters need throb. 39,000 letters an hour go through. Flat sorters are necessary for the mailin ballots. Theres no reason he wouldnt put them back in. It wouldnt save any money. It costs money to take them out. He didnt save money by taking them out. He reduced efficiency. He reduced the ability of the post office to deliver ballots to elect a person safely in america. This is a shame and its a crime. I support the bill and everyone here should. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comer madam speaker, i yield two minutes to my good friend from texas, mr. Arrington. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Arrington madam speaker, i rise in strong opposition to the Democrat Bill entitled delivering for america act. What an irresponsible and dishonest title. Democratic leadership must take the American People as fools. This bill attempts to receive deceive the American People by manufacturing a crisis that simply does not exist. This bill also distracts this body from actually doing something in this chamber that matters. Like condemning violent mobs terrorizing our communities. Like helping hardworking families across this country in this unprecedented time of need. Here are the facts, madam speaker. The United States Postal Service is a Blockbuster Video in a netflix world. Everyone knows its a broken business model. And its failed its workers, its failed its retirees and its failed the american taxpayers. And despite the need for longterm reform, the Postal Service currently has 15 billion in cash on hand and 10 billion more from the cares act. The independent Postal Service board and the independent postal general post master general have repeatedly assured the American People that they can handle the increased volume in mailin voting. Lets be clear. Todays vote is more political theater. Its another scene from the democrats oneact play entitled, defeat President Trump at all costs. Even if it means peddling a deceitful narrative that undermines the American Peoples trust in our democratic republic. To say the Postal Service is all of a sudden incapacitated, unable to provide secure mailin process is not intellectually honest. Its down right predatory. Democrats who falsely call into question the security of our elections to justify a 25 billion bailout, is a scam. And a political payoff to their Government Union bosses. I urge my democrat colleagues, stand up to your leadership. Stop this shameful charade. And see the great danger and ma in manipulating the American People to score cheap political points. Lets get back to work, madam speaker. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney i now recognize for one moment one minute the distinguished chair of the asianpacific american caucus, representative chu from california. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from california is recognized for one minute. Ms. Chu i rise today in strong support of h. R. 8015, the delivering for america act. Because i will not tolerate sabotage of the u. S. Postal service. This week i went to my local post office to fight back against the attacks on mail delivery that my republican colleagues now claim never happened. But i stand by those who know better than anyone, our countrys postal workers. They talked about how cuts to overtime are forcing mail carriers to abandon their routes halfway through, and how deliberate reductions to operating capacity means that they cannot meet their communities needs. My constituents also know better. Every day ive heard from seniors whose medications have been delayed, Small Businesses unable to get orders to customers and workers waiting to receive a check. Pharmacies in my district have even needed to tell customers to pick their medicine up in person instead of relying on the mail. No one should have to risk exposure to covid19, just to pick up its a pick up a prescription, especially not so the president can suppress votes in november. Vote to save the post office. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewomans time has expired. The gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comer i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney i now call upon and give 30 seconds to the distinguished member from texas, Sheila Jackson lee. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from texas is recognized for 30 seconds. Ms. Jackson lee over the last couple of hours, ive heard my friends on the other side of the aisle say this is not serious. Ou know why this is serious . 176,000 dead americans from covid19 and the projection that there may be 300,000 dead by december 1. I left and got on a plane from a hot spot, 14 to 20 infection. So my constituents who are suffering from stage four cancer need the mail. And if they want the proof, i read the words of general counsel and executive Vice President , thomas j. Marshall, of the u. S. Postal service. We are currently unable to balance our costs with available funding, sources to fulfill both our universal Service Mission and other legal obligations. The post office doesnt have money. We need to be able to deliver this money to them and vote on this bill. I support the bill and i ask my colleagues to vote on it. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewomans time has expired. The gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comer i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney i now recognize for one minute the distinguished member from North Carolina, alma adams. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. Ms. Adams thank you, chairwoman maloney. Thank you for your leadership. I rise today in strong support of h. R. 8015, delivering for america act. A courageous our courageous postal workers and letter carriers have been essential in keeping this country on track during this pandemic. More of us than ever are relying on the u. S. Postal service to safely deliver medication and mail in a timely manner. But now this handpicked post master general is engineering an unconstitutional assault against the Postal Service from the insideout. I saw it myself just yesterday in charlotte. Mail sorting machines have been reassembled and removed. Workers are being prohibited from working overtime and letters and packages are piling up. I was proud to help lead the charge with chairwoman maloney, chairman connolly and defazio. Earlier this month in a letter we wrote to Speaker Pelosi. And now i am proud to vote in favor of protecting the essential institutions institution. The u. S. Pose institution the u. S. Postal service has been delivering for us our entire lives. Now its time we deliver for them and for america. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of h. R. 8015. Thank you. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewomans time has expired. The gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comer madam speaker, may i inquire how much time we have remaining . The speaker pro tempore the gentleman has four minutes remaining. The gentlewoman from new york has 5 1 2 minutes remaining. Mr. Comer reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney i now recognize for one minute the distinguished representative from colorado, joe neguse. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from colorado is recognized for one minute. Thank you, madam speaker. And thank you to chairwoman maloney for her leadership. Im proud to speak in strong support of the delivering for america act. You know, ive been here on the floor listening to this debate. Ive heard several of my republican colleagues describe this as a manufactured crisis. Tell that to my constituents. Tell that to kelsey, a small Business Owner in loveland, colorado, who is worried about her ability to get packages delivered on time to her customers because of delays at the Postal Service. Manufactured crisis . Tell that to marsha, my constituent in boulder, who depends on mailorder prescriptions which this month took nearly two weeks to arrive. This is not a manufactured crisis. There is a real crisis at the Postal Service under this post master general and we here in the house strive to fix it. Thats why im a strong supporter of the bill that is before the house today. Ultimately to ensure that the current standards of the Postal Service are protected and provide 25 billion in emergency funding. Let us get this done for the American People. And with that, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comer i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney i now recognize the distinguished member from texas, al green. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized for one minute. Mr. Green i thank the gentlelady for the time. Madam speaker, it is shameful and sinful that history will record that on the great issues of our time, many of them, the senate failed to act. On issues concerning life and death, the senate of the United States of america refused to act. On the great issue of the heroes t, which has lifesaving implications, some 86,000 have died since it was passed and the senate has failed to act. On the issue of delivering of lifesaving medications by way of the Postal Service, when the Postal Service needs our help, the senate has refused to act. And a senate that refuses to act puts the actions of the house at risk because the truth is this. It takes an act of congress to help these entities. It takes an act of congress to help the people of the United States of america. You cannot have an act of congress if the senate refuses to act. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comer reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney i recognize the chair of the subcommittee on energy and water and appropriations, the distinguished member from ohio, marcy kaptur. For one minute. The speaker pro tempore for how much time . Mrs. Maloney for one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. Ms. Kaptur i thank the chair and rise as a former letter carrier to support this and oppose the cuts by postmaster general dejoy. The postmaster claim he is hasnt taken any steps to limit overtime. His state suspect hollow. Ternal documents show they prohibit extra or late trick, which means you finish delivering the mail in your bag that day and mandate carriers return on time, so they cant finish the job. In normal times the Postal Service is crucial but in the pandemic, ontime mail delivery is a matter of life and death. Given that peoples homes are now polling places, the service protects the essence of our democracy. Dont mess with usps. Yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Comer reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentlelady from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney i recognize for 30 seconds the distinguished member from california, ms. Barbara lee. The speaker pro tempore ms. Lee is recognized for 30 seconds. Ms. Lee thank you for yielding. Mr. Speaker, we see across the country the dismantling of the Postal Service which has been a lifeline in American Life my constituents are terrified and angry because theyre not receiving their medications on time. Delays are hurting our Small Businesses. They are outraged their constitutional right to vote could be taken away. This is not only an attack on our democracy but also our work force heroes who in spite of the pandemic deliver our mail. 40 of the heroes are people of color my grandpa retired as a letter carrier after 35 years service. I urge an aye vote to support rather than destroy our Postal Service. Thank you again, thank you for yielding. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. The gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comer mr. Speaker, i have no further speakers, im prepared to close. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney i first would i have no further speakers and im prepared to close except for the distinguished leader of the the speaker. I reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from kentucky reserve, the gentlewoman from new york is ecognized. Mrs. Maloney i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Comer mr. Speaker, despite the passionate arguments made by supporters of h. R. 805, the truth is simple. The new postmaster general is not trying to sabotage the election. Hes doing the exact opposite. In fact, hes ensuring that states are educate thond he tissue on the reality of the Postal Services operations so enough time is given for american citizens to vote by mail if they choose to do. Board yesterday, think of governors announced a Bipartisan Committee to focus on election mail issues. Vote big mail is a crucial way that american citizens can exercise their constitutional right to vote. And its important that all ballots be counted. The Postal Service will be able to handle an increase in mail volume ahead of election as they already handled a larger volume of census forms and stimulus checks earlier this year. This increase in mail will also bring in revenue, strengthen the u. S. Postal Services Fiscal outlook. Lets not forget that the Postal Service already has a approximately 15 billion in cash on hand. Which will allow it to be operational through august of 2021. It also has a 10 billion line of credit from the cares act that it has not drawn down. The usps clearly does not need a bailout for the 2020 election season. To provide these funds without a concrete business reform plan that mornedizes the post office for longterm viability would be reck these. We all want to see an operational, efficient Postal Service that best serves every american. My grandmother was a Rural Mail Carrier for 27 years. As both her grandson and as a representative elected by rural kentuckian, i know firsthand the importance of a reliable Postal Service in helping Small Businesses thrive, ensuring americans get their medications on time an allowing folks to share greeting cards with loved ones. Americans deserve an improved Postal Service but this bill potentially makes things worse. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Mrs. Maloney mr. Speaker, delivering the mail and medications and ballots, this is a part of our constitution, its important to our democracy and numbers dont lie, this internal report from the Postal Service shows that services are down 10 since this postmaster general took charge. I want to publicly thank the speaker of this great body for her leadership and for calling this emergency meeting and emergency vote. And there was no change in service until she called the meeting and vote. I thank you for standing up to the American People and fighting for their services and their democracy and their vote. I yield to the distinguished speaker of the United States congress, the first woman in history as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of womens of women gaining the right to vote, we are so proud of you and your leadership, speaker nancy pelosi. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from california is recognized. Ms. Pelosi thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlelady for yielding and her kind words of enter ducks by i most importantly want to thank her for being the champion, the champion for the in defense of the Postal Service. I rise in joining her in support of the delivering for america act to protect lives and livelihoods and the life of our american democracy in a critical moment for our nation. I thank you madam chair again for the intellectual resource you have been in shaping the legislation, making us current in terms of the report from the Postal Service and what is at stake and why this legislation, mr. Speaker, is so important. I salute House Democrats for their enthusiasm, energy, and insistence on delivering for america. Sin day one of the postal crisis they have conveyed the concerns of their communities to the congress holding event, accelerating a drum beat and shining light on this crisis. This Postal Service, im going to say three things, talk about three things, mr. Speaker. Madam chair. Ranking member. This is about the prove nance of the the provenance of postal system and what it has meant to america and what the challenges are in delaying service and what this and therefore why this legislation is so necessary. First let me say that the in the constitution of the United States, it says, the Congress Shall have the power to establish post offices and post roads, article 1, section 8. So the post office is there in the institution. In the constitution. Even before that its been a pillar of american democracy. It is an allamerican institution which enjoys the overwhelming support of the American People for a reason. Again, enshrined in the constitution, an inseparable part of our national story. Helping transition america from colonies to country. In the early 1770s, our founders relied on the precursor of the Postal Service, the committees of correspondence, educate people about the abuses of the british and to build support for independence. Even before the declaration of independence was signed, the Continental Congress had established the Postal Service as one of the first and most important offices that would be part of the new government. Two of our u. S. President s, Abraham Lincoln andujarry truman, would proudly hold the title of postmaster. One of our funners, benjamin franklin, was the postmaster general, actually he established the Postal Service. So this goes to the heart of our country and the connection that the Postal Service throughout our history, from the very start, has been in tiing our country together. In the early 19th century when visiting america to write his great book, democracy in america, alexis de tocqueville praised the Postal Service as being the great link between minds and writing that not in the most enlightened rural districts of france is there an intellectual movement so rapid or on such a scale as this as the Postal Service. So it has been excellent from the start, part of the unity, the unity of america. As we all know, the postal model states neither motto states neither snow, nor rain, nor gloof of night stays these couriers from their completion of their appointed rounds. Swift completion of their appointed rounds. As members of congress we have a response to believe the ensure that those courageous couriers are not strayed if their constitutional duty to serve the American People. We salute the patriotic i join you, madam chair, in saluting the patriotic men and women who risked their health and safety to serve the mesh people every day. Our postal workers, our letter carriers and all who make who may bring us together there is a second postal motto. Inscribed above the original washington, d. C. , post office. It says, and this is really so clearly what the Postal Service has been about. Messenger of sympathy and love, servant of parted friends, consoler of the lonely, bond of the scattered family, enlarger of the common life, carrier of news and knowledge, instrument of trade and industry, promoter of mutual acquaintance, of peace and of good will among men and nations. Our Postal Service are the beautiful thread that connects our country, delivering sympathy and love, news and knowledge, peace and good will and as a grandmother, i will say, we have seen our children and grandchildren write their letters to santa. Weve seen messages come from the tooth fairy. Weve seen photos and drawings of families taking joy in each other that no amount of social media can convey. So again, we must honor their service with our full support and protection and gratitude for what they mean in our lives. Today, the Postal Service, and this is why this is so important that we have this legislation. The Postal Service provides Critical Services for americans in every corner of the country, from our workers, delivering paychecks and tax returns, for our seniors ensuring Social Security benefits, for Small Businesses providing shipping an essential services. For millions of americans, particularly rural americans, delivering 1. 2 billion prescriptions including most of the medications delivered by the v. A. In 2019, 1. 2 billion prescription were delivered by the Postal Service. And that was before the coronavirus hit. For voters, delivering absentee ballots and election mail which is essential especially during the coronavirus epidemic. No one should be forced to choose between his or her health and the right to vote. Across the nation, though, the post master general is pushing sweeping new operational changes that degrade service, delay the mail and threaten to disenfranchise voters, particularly in communities of color. Now the post master says he will postpone any further changes until after the election. Thats what he says. But this is about more than the election. This legislation is written in the timely fashion to be about the coronavirus and these changes should be there until the end of january or the end of the raging epidemic, which ever s later. Its in that regard that i rise as speaker to speak on the legislation. As a representative of my district, where im not called madam speaker, im called nancy, this is what they have told me. Nancy, michael has said, is a veteran with epilepsy, he reports the prescriptions sent by the v. A. Through the mail are aking twice as long to arrive. Walker says, a senior with debilitating health conditions, is now struggling to send and receive his mail after his closest mailbox was suddenly removed. Claire, an 83yearold with serious chronic illness, who does not have a car and is afraid to use public transport during the pandemic, is in a panic because shes utterly depend on usps for medication and other vital deliveries. And of course the ballot. Another san francisco, charlotte, warns that the Postal Service is vital to our country, not only when it comes to mailin voting, but also for fundamental needs of americans. And mark, another constituent, puts it, not only does what what trump is doing put the integrity of the november elections at risk, people are suffering every day and theyre not receiving their critical medications. Thats what im hearing from my constituents. And theyve theyre told to go to the post office. Well, they really cant. In some cases it endangers them. To go to the drug store instead of getting it through the mail. Go to the drug store. So again, this is immediate in their lives. We are their representatives. That is our job title. And our job description. And representing my constituents, i wanted to convey some samples of concern that we have heard. Earlier this week, in response to the activism of the American People, people have risen up, ive never seen anything quite like it. And House Democrats, the postmaster general announced changes were wholly insufficient and doesnt reverse damages already reached. He said frankly, and i have to give him credit for his honesty, he said, i have no intention of replacing the sorting machines that were removed from the post office. I have no intention of replacing the blue mailboxes that had been ripped from our neighborhoods. And he had no plans for ensuring adequate overtime which is critical, critical in the Timely Delivery of the mail. He said he had no intention of treating ballots as first class mail. Yesterday he said Something Different. But thats what he told me a couple days ago the and i said to him, we will have ago. And i said to him, we will have the provision in the bill that requires you treat ballots as first class mail. He said, well, if its in the bill, then i will have to do it. Hence his change of attitude. He has not adequately addressed americas concerns about the slowdown and the delivery of medicine to veterans. He didnt even seem to know about it. Really . Today chairwoman maloney released new internal post Office Documents that expose the severity of the service declines and delivery delays caused by the postmaster generals drastic changes. These documents make clear that the postmaster general has deliberately misled congress and the American People about the extent of the damage, brushing them off as a dip in service, an unintended consequence. These revelations show that we cannot have confidence that the postmaster general is prioritizing Postal Service or the millions who rely on it. Now, the house is moving forward with a hopefully bipartisan vote and i think it will be on delivering for the america act. Which will reverse the trump damage and provide 25 billion to the United States Postal Service. Sadly, the administration has already threatened to veto this legislation, which contains the same amount of funding, the 25 billion, that was recommended by the United States Postal Service board of governors. They are bipartisan. They are 100 appointed by donald trump. And they unanimously recommended the 25 billion that is contained in this bill. So, for the sake of every senior who has is delayed in getting his Social Security check, every veteran who is delayed in getting his or her medication, every working family who is delayed in getting their paycheck, and every voter now facing the prospect of choosing between their vote and their health, we need to pass this bill. With that, i urge a strong bipartisan vote for h. R. 8015. The delivering for america act. Lets pass this under the distinguished leadership of chairwoman maloney for the people. I yield back. The house passed the bill 257150. Removal of mail sorting machines and mailboxes. The bill now goes to the senate and the president , who has threatened a veto. Senate majority leader Mitch Mcconnell released a statement shortly after the vote, saying the bill does nothing to help struggling families. He goes on to say it Speaker Pelosi is blocking billions in relief for American Families and laidoff workers because anything short of her entire wish list was piecemeal. The senate will absolutely not pass standalone legislation for the post service
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