Science, is influencing decisions on public health. Theres a lot to get to this morning. First, lets go to cnns pamela brown in washington for the latest on this uspa hearing. What do we expect here . Certainly hard questions from democratic lawmakers. How is the postmaster general going to answer . Well, that is the question, and this is likely to be much more contentious, jim, than what we saw last friday before the senate. This is the emergency oversight hearing led by House Democrats. Remember, it was just last week that nearly 100 House Democrats were pushing for dejoys ouster. Of course, this comes as democrats over weekend voted on this bill that would reverse changes dejoy has made as the postmaster general and would halt any further changes until after the pandemic, now the uspa pushed back on that over the weekend saying that that would hamper its ability to be efficient and to cut necessary costs, but expect House Democrats today to scrutinize dejoys changes that he has made before the election, changes like cutting down on overtime, cutting down on the post office hours, removing mail sorting machines. Now, as we know, dejoy put a halt to those changes but he had said in fridays hearing that he would not be putting those mail sorting machines back online, those that have already been removed. Another aspect that dems are expected to scrutinize is this election of dejoy and mnuchins role, treasury secretarys role in his celebs. We know he had met with the board of governors during the time that they were trying to find a postmaster general so theres a lot of questions about democrats about what role he has played and how much he has talked to dejoy, particularly about the changes that were made. Dejoy has said hes not spoken to the president about these changes, but questions still remain on that front. No on friday dejoy did make clear, he distanced himself from the president saying hes a supporter of voting by mail. He says its something that every american should do. The Postal Service has said that it is ready. It is capable to to handle the influx of mailin ballots this year sending out this tweet. If all americans vote by mail this year, 330 million ballots over the course of the election would be only 75 of what we deliver in one single day, but, of course, jim, that doesnt provide a lot of reassurance when were in the situation now that there are still big delays of days and even weeks of people getting their medicine and getting other important items that they need. That is expected to be a big focus also at todays hearing. Yeah, and delayed mailin ballots, many were rejected in the primaries, the concern what would happen in a bigger turnout in the general election. Pamela brown, thank very much. Meanwhile, President Trump continues to sow doubt and push falsehoods. Over the weekend twitter labeled one of the president s tweets as, quote, violating the twitter rules about civic and election integrity. Lets go to the white house now and jens john harwood is there. Listen, this is a consistent message from this president , i shouldnt say accident because theres contradiction in there, right . All mailin voting bad but not say in republicanled florida or arizona. Whats happening here . I mean, even as you have the postmaster general thats going to go on the hill in a couple of minutes here and say voting by mail is just fine. Reporter whats happening here is a president who is losing in his reelection bid at this stage a couple of months before election day is trying to throw the cards up in the air and suggest that the balloting is not going to be fair. Hes put louis dejoy in a bad situation as well because, you know, louis dejoy said in the Senate Hearing the other day that these were longstanding processes for changing the Postal Service to make it more efficient over time and to curb some of the financial losses that it suffered, but when the president lays over that his own public statements that the 25 billion democrats wanted to add that he can withhold that money, that they wouldnt be able to process the mailin balloting just taints everything that dejoy is trying to do. In addition to trying to claim that the drop boxes were not secure and safe which, of course, history has shown that they are, many states have been routinely using them for years, the question is how much additional use they get this year, but president even cited fear of covid, the pandemic that he has failed to control as suggesting they are not safe, saying they are not covid sanitized. That real was an extraordinary statement by the president and, of course, twitter has has flagged that tweet. And i had a republican member of that Committee Just a moment ago that could not provide any evidence of the fraud that they claim. John harwood, thanks very much. Lets go to the hearing now. They are just gaveling in there. To the latest guidance from the house attending physician all individuals attending this hearing in person must wear a face mask. Members who are not wearing a face mask will not be recognized. Let me also make a few reminders for those members appearing in person. You will see members and witnesses appearing remotely. On the monitor in front of you when you are speaking in what is known in web x as active speaker view. A timer is visible in the room directly in front of you. For members appearing remotely, i know you are all familiar with web x by now, but let me remind everyone of a few points. First, you will be able to see each person speaking during the hearing whether they are in person or remote as long as you have your web x set to active speaker view. If you have any questions about this, please Contact Committee staff immediately. Second, we have a timer that should be visible on your screen when you are in the active speaker with thumbnail. Members who wish to pin the timer to their screens should Contact Committee staff for assistance. Third, the house rules require that we see you so please have your cameras turned on at all times. Fourth, members appearing remotely who are not recognized should remain muted to minimize background noise and feedback. Fifth, i will recognize members verbally, but members retain their right to seek recognition verbally in regular order. Members will be recognized in seniority order for questions. Lastly, if you want to be recognized outside of regular order, you may identify that in several waid. You may use the chat function to send a request. You may send an email to the majority staff or unmute your mic to seek recognition. Obviously, we do not want people talking over each other, so my preference is that members use the chat function or email to facilitate formal verbal recognition. Committee staff will ensure that i am made aware of your request, and i will recognize you. We will begin the hearing in just a moment when they tell me they are ready to begin the livestream. Chairwoman ma lone, point of order. You mentioned the mask. You dont have one on. Well, im talking. If youre talking, you can have your mask off. I thought said during questions you had to have it on. Well, to come in the room you have to have the mask on, but as you talk, as you and i know, its very hard to talk with the mask on so it can be removed when youre asking questions. We lost the sound . The committee will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a recess of the committee at any time. Without objection the gentle woman from North Carolina, miss adams, as well as the gentleman from illinois, mr. Quigley, will be permitted to join the committee and be recognized for questioning the witnesses. In addition, the gentleman from North Carolina, mr. Walker, will be recognized at the proper time to introduce his constituent. I now recognize myself for an Opening Statement. Good morning. I would like to welcome postmaster general louis dejoy and the chairman of the postal board of governors Robert Duncan to this oversight hearing, and i thank you all for being here. In all of our districts, we are hearing from constituents about significant delays in the delivery of mail, medicines, food and other supplies. These delays are especially concerning and potentially lifethreatening during the drives crisis. These are not isolated complaints. They are widespread. Our offices have been receiving thousands of calls and emails about the detrimental effects these delays are having on our veterans, seniors, Small Businesses and families across the country. When we asked postal leaders about these delays, they downplayed them. They dismissed them as temporary. They discounted them as minor, unintended consequences of reforms being put in place, but then we saw National Head lyons describing these delays in much more detail. I have a document here that it has headlines from almost every state in the country talking about these delays. For example, in my home state of new york, i quote, mail is delayed five to six days in new york city, poetal Workers Union says, end quote. In kentucky, Ranking Member combers home state, quote, Postal Services costcutting is frustrating kentuckians and raising election concerns, end quote. And in california, the home state of our vice chairman mr. Gomez, quote, like armageddon, rotten food, dead animals and chaos at postal facilities admit cutbacks, end quote. This list goes on and on. Last friday when mr. Dejoy was confronted in the senate with these widespread reports, he said he felt bad about what he called a dip in service, but then after mr. Dejoys testimony in the senate, we obtained an internal Postal Service document entitled pmg briefing. This is a presentation prepared directly for the postmaster general dated almost two weeks ago, august 12th. According to this document, these delays are not just a dip. This document warns the postmaster general of significant and widespread drops across the board. In first class marketing, periodicals and other categories. This document shows these delays are not a myth or Conspiracy Theory, as some of my colleagues have argued. These team declines did not start in april or may when the corona virus hit us but in july when mr. Dejoy came on board and began making the changes. Our entire country is experiencing these delays as a result of mr. Dejoys actions as much as his decision to restrict the number of trips from processing plants to delivery units. Perhaps mr. Dejoy thought his sweeping changes would not cause any delays. In my opinion that would be incompetence at best or perhaps this was intentional. Maybe mr. Dejoy was warned that his changes would cause delays but he disregarded those warnings. That would be extremely reckless in the middle of a Global Pandemic with less than three months before an important election, or perhaps there is a far simpler explanation. Perhaps mr. Dejoy is just doing exactly what President Trump said he wanted on national television, using the blocking of funds to justify sweeping changes to hobble mailin voting. All of these options are bad, but when you install someone as postmaster general after he donates millions of dollars to your campaign, when he rushes to make changes without conducting adequate analysis and when he withholds Key Information from congress and doesnt level with us when people begin to ask what in the world is going on, given all of this its not surprising that the Postal ServiceInspector General has already opened an investigation into mr. D joys controversial changes. We will be asking mr. Dejoy some hard questions today. We will also be asking mr. Duncan as chairman of the board about his own role in choosing mr. Dejoy as postmaster general about his own role in vetting mr. Dejoy for conflicts of interest, including mr. Dejoys ownership of stock in major Postal Service competitors and mr. Duncans own role in allowing these delays to happen under his watch. Whatever the cause of these massive delays, the American People want to go back to the way things were. Threat dont want these changes. They want them reversed. They dont want anyone messing with the post office, and they certainly dont want it politicized. They want to have confidence that their mail, their medicine, their ballots will be delivered on time. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses, and i now recognize the distinguished Ranking Member mr. Comber for an Opening Statement. Well, thank you, theirwoman maloney, i appreciate you calling this hearing today on the United StatesPostal Service even though it would have been nice to do so before we actually voted only the bill saturday. We all agree the Postal Service needs to be reformed. We all want the postal system to be as official as possible to ensure americans receive their prescriptions on time, Small Businesses thrive and mailin ballots are delivered in a timely fashion but meaningful report is going to take bipartisanship, something weve seen very little of in the last few days. Democrats fabricated a Conspiracy Theory about the Postal Service and passed a bill before hearing from you, mr. Dejoy. The bill had no prior action to vet the bills no, hearings, no markup. Because of this rushed process, the bill was significantly amended by the democrats before it went to the rules committee. It then proceeded to the house floor under a process that prevented any amendments to the bill. There was no republican input, not at any step in the process. Just this morning we have learned that the u. S. Postal service opposes the bill that you all passed saturday. They read the bill and realized that it ties their hands and will make it harder and more expensive to deliver the mail. At least this legislation is consistent with the obama biden years at the Postal Service, more delays, more financial losses. This chain of events show democrats are not serious about meaningful reform. The president does not support the bill. The postal bill does not support the bill and the senate will likely not take up the bill. This is a political stunt. During saturdays debate chairwoman maloneyin veiled a 60page powerpoint deck she received overnight from an apparent whistleblower. Madam chair, i dont need to remind you that your and adam schiffs record with whistleblowers is less than stellar. The deck is dated august 12th proving it played no role in the creation of your bill which was unveiled the day before. The deck contains delivery performance data updated since the u. S. Post al Services Third quarter report. It shows some delays in july and august. Im very interested to hear from mr. Dejoy today about what he has learned about the causes of these delays, how much of an effect is the ongoing pandemic and increasing employee sick leave having on the u. S. Postal Service Delivery of performance and how does this compare to other temporary growing pains to make the Postal Service more efficient and selfsufficient. Im interested to hear mr. Dejoys responses because i do not know the answer to those questions. I dont believe the chairwoman does either. This is why ive repeatedly said, madam chairwoman, that this committee is doing things backwards. When we make policy, its our job to understand why something is happening, how would you find out why . You would have a hearing on the topic with the postmaster general. When would you have this hearing . Certainly before you passed a bill. Returning to today, let me say that postal issues are something that ive long heard about, a great deal in my rural district. For example, i distinctly remember when the obama biden administration, a mail facility in paducah was closed resulting in letters that once took a day to get from point a to point b now taking three or four and heard from a grandmother who spent her entire career cass a Rural Mail Carrier and hearts and sympathies go out to our postal families who have lost loved ones during this pandemic. As her grandson and the congressman representing the First District of kentucky and as the Ranking Member of this committee i want to see the Postal Service return to being a viable institution, but im disappointed the a the hysterical frenzy whipped up around this issue by my colleagues on the left and my friends in the media. Lets look at the most often repeated claims again. Does the post office receive a bailout in order to survive through november . Mail volume has declined and Package Delivery shot through the roof. Increasing uspa revenue by 1. 5 billion. It has nearly 15 billion cash on hand and can operate until at least august of 2021. Next question, is the postmaster general sabotaging the election but removing blue postal boxes and mail sorting machines . No. The Postal Service has more than adequate capacity to handle the vote by mail. If everybody in the u. S. Requests and sends their ballots via mail that is still less than one days average volume. The the blue boxes and mail sorters were both components of longstanding programs in response to significant reduction in mail volume. 33 reduction over the past 15 years. For reference, under president obama approximately 12 n. O. W. Blue mailboxes were removed and we didnt hear one word from the other side when he did that. The mail orders sorters were sitting idle taking up floor space for more productive activities.