PORTLAND, Maine — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate and Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon held a press conference Tuesday morning with Maine postal workers, calling for immediate federal action to protect the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).
Gideon was joined by Maine State Association of Letter Carriers President Mark Seitz, American Postal Workers Union (AMPW) Local 458 President Scott Adams, and postal workers and their families for the press conference in Portland. Both unions endorsed Gideon in her bid to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
"Countless Mainers rely on the Postal Service for everything from prescription medicines for seniors and veterans to Social Security benefits to the ability to cast their ballot – especially during the current crisis – and the Trump administration's attempts to dismantle the Postal Service are absolutely unacceptable,” Gideon said. “Unfortunately, as we've seen time and again, Donald Trump has not 'learned his lesson,' and once again, Senator Collins and her Republican colleagues are refusing to hold him accountable. Congress should return to session immediately to demand answers and pass necessary relief, and if Postmaster General Louis DeJoy cannot provide answers and restore timely mail service to Mainers, then he should resign."
On Tuesday, DeJoy announced he will delay changes to the Postal Service until after the election to "avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail."
While Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has called the House back into session, with a vote expected Saturday on legislation that would prohibit changes at the agency—Gideon is calling on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to reconvene the Senate immediately. The Gideon campaign says the Senate must “demand answers for the American people, pass at least $25 billion in relief funding the Postal Service, and protect the Postal Service’s ability to deliver in a timely manner.”
Collins introduced the Postal Service Emergency Assistance Act with Sen. Dianne Feinstein in July. The bill would provide the USPS with up to $25 billion to cover losses due to the pandemic.
All four members of Maine’s congressional delegation—Sens. Collins and Angus Kings, and Reps. Jared Golden and Chellie Pingree—have voiced concerns over the postal service crisis the nation is currently facing.
"The President should not discourage anyone from casting a vote for fear it may not be able to get there in time," Collins said. "But that is why we need to be able to provide the funding to the postal service and put a stop to these service cutbacks.
Maine was among 46 states and the District of Columbia that received unprecedented correspondence from the USPS with warnings that some ballots may not be counted in the November General Election, sparking worries of voters being disenfranchised in the election.
The USPS has undergone sweeping policy and organizational changes since Louis DeJoy was appointed Postmaster General in May. DeJoy, a wealthy North Carolina businessman who is a Trump donor, was previously a fundraiser for the Republican National Convention. According to reports, he’s given about $360,000 to the Trump Victory super PAC supporting his reelection. Since his appointment, overtime for hundreds of thousands of employees has been eliminated and mandates have been put in place that delays mail deliveries.
According to USA Today, DeJoy wrote in a memo to employees, “if we cannot deliver all the mail due to call offs or shortage of people and you have no other help, the mail will not go out."
These changes, in addition to Trump’s repeated false claims that voting by mail leads to mass fraud, has state officials and citizens across the country alarmed about being disenfranchised in the upcoming election.
"We need the immediate resignation or removal of Louis DeJoy as Postmaster General," Scott Adams, president of the American Postal Worker Union Local 458 in Scarborough said.
DeJoy will testify next Monday before Congress, along with the chairman of the Postal Service board of governors. DeJoy is also expected to testify Friday in front of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
