House Democrats said Sunday they are “ramping up” their investigation of the United States Postal Service as Democratic leaders, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, called on Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and Chairman of the Postal Service Board of Governors Robert Duncan to testify.
Pelosi told House Democrats on Sunday evening she wanted the House to return this week to act on the issues regarding the USPS, she wrote in a letter.
“Lives, livelihoods and the life of our American Democracy are under threat from the President,” Pelosi wrote. “I am calling upon the House to return to session later this week to vote on Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman (Carolyn) Maloney’s ‘Delivering for America Act,’ which prohibits the Postal Service from implementing any changes to operations or level of service it had in place on January 1, 2020.”
The House is likely to return on Saturday, with Friday as a travel day, a senior Democratic aide told CNN. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland will announce the final schedule on a Democratic Caucus conference call midday Monday, the aide said.
The Democratic leaders said in an earlier statement that they want the USPS officials to appear at a hearing on August 24 to discuss what they call “recent, sweeping and dangerous operational changes at the Postal Service that are slowing the mail and jeopardizing the integrity of the election.”
“House Democrats, led by Chairwoman Maloney of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, are ramping up their ongoing investigation by requesting that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and Chairman of the USPS Board of Governors Robert Duncan testify at an urgent hearing before the Committee on August 24,” the leaders said in a statement. “The hearing will examine the sweeping operational and organizational changes at the Postal Service that experts warn could degrade delivery standards, slow the mail and potentially impair the rights of eligible Americans to cast their votes through the mail in the upcoming November elections.
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The leaders continued in the statement that DeJoy and Postal Service leadership should be questioned by Congress.
“The Postmaster General and top Postal Service leadership must answer to the Congress and the American people as to why they are pushing these dangerous new policies that threaten to silence the voices of millions, just months before the election,” the leaders said.
Several House Democrats Saturday called for the subpoenaing of DeJoy if he won’t appear voluntarily.
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Senate Democrats, including Gary Peters of Michigan, who have limited investigatory power because they are in the minority, started an investigation last week.
The statement said Senate Democrats are asking Homeland Security Chairman Ron Johnson to call DeJoy and Duncan for a hearing as soon as next week for what they call “vigorous and urgently-needed oversight.”
CNN reported Saturday the House Democratic leadership was seriously considering coming back to Washington either sometime this week or next week. One complication is that the Democratic National Convention is being held Monday through Thursday. If the House is brought back next week, it could offer a split screen between that and the Republicans holding their convention.
It is unprecedented for either House of Congress, though, to be in session at any time during one of the party conventions.
“We have a conference call tomorrow to discuss the issue. We spoke with Speaker yesterday as a California delegation, and this is on top of her priority list. I mean this is very serious,” Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California told CNN’s Ana Cabrera Sunday. “Our members are concerned about the implication this has to have a fair election with every vote counted. So I hope we return, and I know we’re speaking about it as a caucus tomorrow.”
This story has been updated with information from Speaker Pelosi’s letter to House Democrats and timing on the House’s return.
CNN’s Lauren Fox, Sunlen Serfaty and Haley Byrd contributed to this report.
