(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) joined Reps. Alma S. Adams (NC-12), Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (OR-04), Committee on Oversight and Reform Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-12), and Government Operations Subcommittee Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (VA-11) and 126 other Members of Congress in sending a letter to Speaker Pelosi requesting strong support for the United States Postal Service in forthcoming COVID-19 relief legislation.
“The United States Postal Service is an essential service,” said Congresswoman Adams. “With the ongoing pandemic, the Postal Service’s timely delivery of medication, parcels, and election mail is more essential than ever. Unfortunately, the Trump Administration’s new Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, has engineered an unconstitutional assault on our Postal Service from within the organization itself. It is crucial that any emergency funds appropriated by Congress require that USPS not reduce its operational standards.”
In 1878 Associate Justice Stephen J. Field, in a unanimous opinion from the United States Supreme Court, wrote, “The power vested in Congress 'to establish post-offices and post-roads' has been practically construed, since the foundation of the government, to authorize not merely the designation of the routes over which the mail shall be carried, and the offices where letters and other documents shall be received to be distributed or forwarded, but the carriage of the mail, and all measures necessary to secure its safe and speedy transit, and the prompt delivery of its contents.”
“Now more than ever, the U.S. Postal Service is an essential agency to millions of Americans,” said Rep. DeFazio. “However, it is currently under attack from Donald Trump because of the President’s personal vendetta against The Washington Post, and its owner, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, for reporting he finds too critical. Safeguarding the USPS from these misguided attacks will protect millions of Americans’ medications, ballots, groceries and more. It’s imperative that we ensure any subsequent COVID-19 relief legislation includes funding for the USPS to survive.”
“Millions of Americans across the country rely on the Postal Service for the delivery of essential items, including life-saving medications, census forms, and mail-in ballots,” said Chairwoman Maloney. “Unfortunately, the Trump Administration is systematically dismantling the Postal Service by reducing its operations just to meet their bottom line. Congress must ensure that the next stimulus package includes provisions to protect the Postal Service and maintain the mail service that is essential to Americans across the country.”
“The Trump administration's ongoing campaign to sabotage the US Postal Service is a direct attack on our democracy,” said Chairman Connolly. “Rural and urban, Democrat, Republican or Independent, every American has come to rely on the Postal Service. Congress must with one voice and clear action ensure service standards are not allowed to falter.”
The letter is also signed by Representatives Allred, Barragán, Bass, Beatty, Beyer, Bishop (GA), Blumenauer, Blunt Rochester, Boyle, Brown, Brownley, Bustos, Butterfield, Carson, Case, Casten, Castor, Castro, Cicilline, Clarke, Cleaver, Cohen, Cooper, Costa, Courtney, Cox, Craig, Crow, Davids, Davis (CA), Davis (IL), DeSaulnier, Dingell, Doggett, Doyle, Espaillat, Evans, Finkenauer, Foster, Frankel, Fudge, Gabbard, Garamendi, Gomez, Gonzalez, Grijalva, Haaland, Hastings, Heck, Higgins, Himes, Holmes, Huffman, Jayapal, Jeffries, EB Johnson, Kaptur, Keating, Kelly (IL), Kennedy, Khanna, Krishnamoorthi, Kuster, Langevin, Larson, Lawrence, Lawson, Lee (CA), Levin, Lofgren, Lowenthal, Lynch, Malinowski, Matsui, McCollum, McGovern, McEachin, McNerney, Meeks, Meng, Murphy (FL), Nadler, Napolitano, Pallone, Panetta, Pascrell, Peters (CA), Pingree, Pocan, Porter, Pressley, Price (NC), Quigley, Raskin, Rose, Roybal-Allard, Ruppersberger, Ryan, Sánchez, Sarbanes, Scanlon, Schakowsky, Schneider, Scott (VA), Sean Patrick Maloney, Sewell, Sherrill, Smith, Speier, Soto, Suozzi, Swalwell, Takano, Thompson (MS), Titus, Tlaib, Trahan, Underwood, Veasey, Vela, Velázquez, Wasserman Schultz, Watson Coleman, Welch, Wexton, Wild, and Yarmuth.
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