Rep. Hoyer good afternoon. As you may know, a recent development has occurred which is a good development, but it will not change what we intend to do. I am pleased to be joined here by senator van hollen, senator warner, Annette Taylor where is a nennette . Representative of what is to be frankfurt to close washington state. Representative sybase. Representative sarbanes. Representative brown is here. And representative wexler is with us. As you know, there has been a great deal of consternation, and that is a gentle word, for the actions that have been proceeding by the Postal Service, whose headquarters is. Ight there what President Trump and louis to ourre trying to do nations Postal Service is reprehensible. Not surprisingly, however, and quite probably criminal. I use that advisedly, but , 18rding to the u. S. Code u. S. Code 1703, whoever being a Postal Service officer or employee unlawfully delays there are a lot of other things i dont want to read it all for time sick because Everyone Wants an opportunity to speak is guilty of a crime subject to a substantial fine and five years in jail. That is how important the congress of the United States and the American People think the delivery of their mail is. In many instances, life critical, for prescription drugs to be delivered to their homes. It is, i think, even more rural areasn where people cannot walk to this, that, or the other. And it is truly lifethreatening not to have the Postal Service working currently. Postal workers being told to cut their routes short. Im told that is going to change for the sorting machines are being dismantled in t processing facilities. We were told seconds ago that is going to be changed. The press conferences around the country have made a difference. And the fact that we are coming back saturday to make sure the u. S. Postal service does its legal duty. And usps leaders are being let go or reassign. We hope that is changing. All of this is happening in the middle of a pandemic. Just weeks before americans start voting in the 2020 election. Millions of people across our country rely on the Postal Service every day to access prescription drugs, paychecks, and other essential items for. Heir lives to politicize and sabotage the Postal Service in order to suppress most is day to suppress votes is dangerous for it is, however, what the president of the United States wants to do. But now it appears their hands have been caught in the cookie jar and taking it out, leaving the cookies in place. We are going to make sure that happens by passing legislation that i would presume in light of this action every republican and every democrat would support. To politicize and sabotage the Postal Service in order to suppress the vote is dangerous to our democracy, it is designed to prevent the people from access. In a very visual way, they took blue boxes away from the American People. No more dramatic example of suppression and prevention for participation. I heard from constituents in my districts i know everybody here has heard from constituents in their district, and they are talking about it. I will go quickly. House democrats will not let this president destroy our postal system, which existed before our constitution and was felt to be a critically Important Service not a Business Service to the American People and to our democracy. That binds usce together and allows us to communicate with one another. And the fact that this postmaster general would have taken actions unilaterally, obviously with the agreement of the president of the United States without giving anybody the right to comment, which is preserved to them under the law, the actions today, where the attorney general as is said they are not going to implement any of those changes until after the. Lection we are going to make sure in law that that is the case, because he should not have done what he has done today, and he must reverse any adverse consequences of the actions that have been taken today. My colleagueuce from maryland, who was at a press conference yesterday in baltimore. Senator Chris Van Hollen of the state of maryland. Sen. Van hollen thank you, steny, and i want to thank steny and my colleagues from the state of maryland were here, congresswoman Eleanor Holmes norton from the district, our friends from virginia, and all of you for joining us for this important occasion where we blow the whistle on what is happening around the country with the new postmaster general under orders from President Trump. And i want to give special workers ande postal the letter carriers and all the men and women who faithfully on time sixmail days a week. The words neither snow nor rain night keepr gloom of the workers from the script completion of their appointed rounds has always been part of the post office grade. We can add it to that recently, hnor a global pandemic. These are essential workers who have been delivering mail on time six days a week even during a pandemic, and they have been doing it for over hundreds of years. And then comes along the new postmaster general, postmaster general dejoy, and suddenly all of us start hearing from our constituents, constituents calling because they cannot get lifesustaining medicines. Im going to read just one. Dear senator van hollen. I misam a resident of the herald and suffers from. Byailed the box home to me Priority Mail on friday, july 31. I was told they would arrive on monday, august 3, which is the day i flew back to maryland. Today is august 7, and my box has yet to arrive. My meds are in that box, and today was the last dosage i had with me. Ups, and theyx to were informed it arrive in gaithersburg on august 5, but it is probably somewhere in the warehouse there. We have a hearing from seniors who cannot get the medicines, from veterans and seniors and retirees who are desperately waiting for the retirement checks, and Small Businesses whose operations are being disrupted. When we called our post offices to find out what happened, everybody said, well, these orders have come from above. And all roads led right here. Right here to this headquarters. Lenfant plaza and postmaster general dejoy. What we learned was that he had put in measures that slowed down the mail. They include the removal of sorting machines from post offices. In fact, congressman sarbanes and i were in baltimore yesterday and learned that the Central Distribution center had four of their machines that had been removed from the post office. That was part of the slowdown. Now, as congressman hoyer said, if any of these postal workers had unlawfully delayed or detained the mail, they are committing a violation of the criminal statute. And they could be prosecuted. But that statute also covers Postal Officers. And that includes this postmaster general. And i can tell you Everybody Knows that it is unlawful to interfere with the post office in order to try to cook and fix and disrupt a United States election. Which is what this postmaster general was doing on the orders of donald trump, who told the country on National Television and via twitter that he is interfering with the post office because he doesnt like mailin ballots. We need to pursue that line, we need to call upon the board of governors to remove this postmaster general. As congressman hoyer said, they got caught redhanded. That is what happened here. They got caught redhanded. We just saw the statement of the postmaster general saying he does not plan to make any additional changes. Ok. That is good. We need to watch that diligently. But they need to reverse the measures that they have already put in place. And that is why youre going to see hearings in the senate and in the house, and that is why i want to salute steny hoyer and congressman hoyer and the other members of the house, Speaker Pelosi, for bringing back the house to pass a bill that says very clearly that you cannot make any changes, not a single change, until january 1 of next year at the very earliest. They got caught redhanded. The post office is enshrined in the constitution. They all swore an oath to uphold the constitution. They are violating that oath, and we need to hold them to it to make sure that we have this election. Ers committee issued a report about russian weerference in 2016, and know that the russians are engaging in interference in 2020. We have to worry about foreign interference. We dont need an inside job to try to fix our elections. This is what was happening here. We caught them redhanded. But now we have to pass legislation to make it absolutely clear that this is unacceptable. And so now i will turn it over to the next of my colleagues, i believe it is senator warner, and thank him for all his efforts. Sen. Warner thank you, chris, thank you, steny. Thank you to all my colleagues. We will hear from a retired postal worker. I will reinforce what has already been said. Steny talked about his constituents. Im sure each member will talk about constituents calling in, they couldnt get the mail delivered, they can get their drugs, their medicines. Two quick stories from in virginia. Whoserom a constituent 91yearold mom had been waiting 10 days for her medicine. She was flipping out about when she was going to get it. Another individual said he had been notified by his creditcard company that he was going to get a big late fee, even though he sent his bill in 10 days early. What do all these have in common . They all have in common that they all took place after june 16, when the new postmaster general, mr. Dejoy, was appointed. This starts at the top. We have called upon the board of governors to remove mr. Dejoy and put someone in who has basic competency. We have elections this year. In virginia, we changed our rules. Voters can start voting as early as september 19. If they are not able to vote because you have a president of the United States that is trying to do everything legal and otherwise to impede mailin or absentee voting, and you have seeing an effort to try to steal the election. Chris mentioned, coming on top of the bipartisan report of the Senate Intelligence committee that laid out today what happened four years ago with outside intervention, we confirmed by the Intelligence Committee last week that russia and others are back. The last thing we need is more sabotage being manipulated by the building behind us. Final comment. Last night, before the Dnc Convention came on, and we came upon an old movie, some of you wont remember it from the 1990s called the postman. Kevin costner was in it. It was eerily reminiscent, there had been a pandemic, society was breaking down, and the bad guys were out and around. And you know what was the group that people suddenly saw as a hope that there might be a brighter day . Kevin costner became a postman, and led to the resurrection of the u. S. Postal service. It was strange how that film of fiction that i happened to catch last night almost seems to be being repeated in 2020. America deserves better. We need to hold this postmaster accountable. Mitch mcconnell, bring the senate back to town so we can pass legislation to the house. With that, let me bring up annette weaver, a retired postal worker. Shouldnt speak to these issues directly. Annette good afternoon. My name is Annette Taylor. Sen. Warner oops. Annette that is all right. First of all, i want to personally thank congressman hoyer. He is my congressman. We consider him steny. We all know who steny is. I was a 32year employee of the Postal Service. Prior to that, i was in the air force for eight years. I got my job with the Postal Service right out of the military. I was very proud to get this job, because i felt it was an essential job that connected the whole United States together. It just was an overwhelming thought that when i put on that uniform, that i was now a representative of the Postal Service. And i was very proud to be a Postal Service employee all those years. I love my job, i raised my children on a good salary and benefits. And i am here today to tell you about how important the Postal Service is to the public from a letter carriers perspective. Letter carriers connect over 160 Million People and businesses in a day in the United States and also businesses throughout the United States. They depend on us to deliver their medications, supplies, especially now in this covid situation, and now as we grow closer to the election, also balloting. It is important that we have our mail process promptly. As letter carriers, we always felt that if we left something behind us, we felt really bad, even if it could wait the next day. We wanted to take every piece of mail behind us every single day. That is no longer the case. For 40 years, the Postal Service has not needed taxpayer funds. And we now need taxpayer assistance. We have experienced staggering losses with volume and revenue, like all other businesses. All of this is damaging postal operations. We need a bill which would allow us to ensure the u. S. Has funding and support to prevent delays and to continue the essential service that we provide. Thank you. A bipartisan poll of voters shows that 92 of voters are behind and support direct funding to the Postal Service. Important is really to keep that in mind when we move forward with any actions with the Postal Service. Thank you very much. Rep. Hoyer Eleanor Holmes norton, the congresswoman who represents washington, d. C. Del. Norton thank you, leader hoyer. I came here today to focus on one thing, and that is the bill that will be discussed monday, called delivering for america act, that would keep the Postal Service from making the changes the new leadership has already embarked upon thank you on level of service until january 1, 2020. Leader hoyer announces that the Postal Service has already agreed. Rep. Hoyer minutes ago. Norton minutes ago, he says, to postpone any changes in post Office Operations and levels of service until january 1, 2020. That is exactly what our bill says. I was not going to talk about any other part of the act except course, itt that, of takes time to get an act passed. Now it looks like what we are seeing all over the country is is producing the desired effect, to keep the post office from leaving an indelible scar that would keep mail ballots perhaps from being counted. Bear in mind that the United States held a successful election in the middle of a civil war. Surely we can do that again. But the experience from the primaries lead us to believe we were headed, and may still be headed, for a pandemonium of results in the new november elections that may leave lasting uncertainty. I am sure all of us wish that we enjoyed the 90 Approval Rating that the congress of the United States enjoyed that Approval Rating that the Postal Service does. And of course, this new postmaster, louis dejoy, will be appearing on the committee in which i serve on monday. Since his appointment, to give you some notion, here in the delivery, for example, in ward 8 of our city reports that people havent received their mail for two weeks. I am in the midst of a wardby ward investigation now. Understand that this is being experienced nationwide. So much so that the speaker of the house has called us back for an emergency session on saturday. During our hearing on monday, i want to give you some notion of what i will be asking the postmaster. Because we had hold of a july 15 memorandum that was leaked directing, actually directing in writing, employees to leave mail behind in Distribution Centers and directing against any overtime. I am going to question him on an august 7 Postal Service memo, a memo from the Postal Service itself, which criticizes the new postmasters sidelining of 23 executives who have all of the Institutional Knowledge of the Postal Service. And instead, centralize everything around the new postmaster, dejoy. I want to know why my district here, the district of columbia, and 46 states have received warnings from the Postal Service that it cannot guarantee that all mail ballots will arrive in town to be counted. Trumps standing in the polls apparently led him to try to sabotage mailin voting as his last hope for retaining power. It is going to fall to those of us who have come here this afternoon, the legislative branch, to take the actions necessary to preserve democracy and democratic elections in our country. Now, who is next . My colleague from maryland. Epresentativ