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Dear Friend,
Donald Trump's campaign to destroy the post office is working.
Since Trump's new Postmaster General instituted new cuts designed to slow the mail, deliveries are languishing at postal hubs. More than 330,000 veterans are waiting weeks for prescriptions.1 Paychecks and bill payments are missing deadlines.2
And unless Congress acts right now, millions of mail-in ballots could be delayed and left uncounted in the November election. The post office must get emergency funding to ensure that it has the capacity to support vote-by-mail, and we're driving thousands of letters from constituents to ensure Congress acts.
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Since Congress established the U.S. Postal Service in 1775, "neither rain nor heat nor gloom of night" has stopped the postal workers from delivering the mail.3 The mail has been one of the mainstays of democracy, an always-dependable service that has connected even the most remote residences to submit taxes, vote, and pay bills.
But a combination of a Bush-era law designed to bankrupt the post office and Trump's postmaster general's draconian budget cuts have put the mail on the brink of extinction.
The 2006 law requires the U.S. Postal Service prepay 75 years' worth of its employee pension and healthcare costs—a requirement no other government agency has.4 To balance these costs, post offices relied heavily on overtime for its current employees to get the mail to us on time—but the Postmaster General, a Trump megadonor, has prohibited any overtime mail delivery, causing letters and packages to remain behind at the post office for days to weeks.5
This mail delay comes as election boards across the country are processing millions of requests for absentee ballots as people try to ensure they can vote safely during the pandemic.6 And if these delays continue to worsen, the post office won't be able to turn around ballots on time, and an untold number of votes might not be counted in November.
The House of Representatives has already voted to overturn the 2006 law and provide funding to the postal service, but the Senate has so far refused to act. Congress is debating a new coronavirus bill and could vote any day now, so right now we need to demand that the post office is funded in that bill.
Will you rush an emergency donation to help save the post office?
Thanks for standing with us.
Robert Cruickshank,
Demand Progress
Source:
1. Connecting Vets, "As veterans and VA staff report USPS prescription delays, officials say to order early," August 5, 2020
2. The New York Times, "Mail Delays Fuel Concern Trump Is Undercutting Postal System Ahead of Voting," July 31, 2020
3. U.S. Postal Service, "Postal Service Mission and 'Motto'," accessed August 7, 2020
4. The Week, "How George Bush broke the Post Office," April 16, 2018
5. NPR, "Pending Postal Service Changes Could Delay Mail And Deliveries, Advocates Warn," July 29, 2020
6. Business Insider, "How to vote by mail in your state in the November presidential election," July 28, 2020
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