Earlier today, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Accountability Committee regarding recent attacks he has received over his management of the U.S. Postal Service since becoming Postmaster General a little over 2 months ago. Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-WI) called the hearing in an effort to give the Postmaster General an opportunity to explain the Post Office's capacity to handle the November election. While DeJoy is scheduled to testify next week before the House Oversight Committee, the hearing is expected to be similar to last month's hearing where Attorney General Bill Barr was berated by House Democrats who were uninterested in letting him answer any of their questions.
WATCH: @USPS Postmaster General DeJoy opening statement at Senate hearing on the U.S. Postal Service operations during COVID-19 pandemic & 2020 election https://t.co/zD7qPEDmHA pic.twitter.com/W80fixqwt4
— CSPAN (@cspan) August 21, 2020
During the hearing, Postmaster General DeJoy clearly laid out that the Post Office is ready for November and that he will be doing whatever he can to make sure that the mail-in ballot return process runs smoothly:
Don't be fooled by the House Democrats and their made-up crisis. The #USPS has both the capacity and funding to deliver for the American people during this pandemic and this election.
— Rep. Michael Waltz (@RepMichaelWaltz) August 21, 2020
Here are the facts: pic.twitter.com/JVzVX9Ua5w
Another round of absurd Democrat hysteria debunked. Postmaster Louis DeJoy testifies USPS has the money, the manpower, and the resources to deliver the mail safely and on time for the November election. In fact, USPS currently has most cash on hand in its history, approx $15 b https://t.co/Xpgy3ADzPm
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) August 21, 2020
The @USPS themselves confirm they have the ability to process and deliver mail-in ballots – they currently deliver an average of 471 million pieces of mail per day. https://t.co/ltyYVAhfAB
— Rep. Kevin Brady (@RepKevinBrady) August 21, 2020
Postmaster General DeJoy also shed some light on some of the difficulties that the Post Office has been facing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic:
While I’m concerned about recent issues with the postal service like delayed deliveries, Postmaster General DeJoy explained that many issues are a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. I didn’t realize that, and I think a lot of others may not have realized it.
— Mike Enzi (@SenatorEnzi) August 21, 2020
Despite his willingness to answer questions and presentation of clear evidence that there is nothing nefarious going on, the Committee's Democrats were combative with DeJoy. Chairman Johnson called them out for their poor conduct:
Thank you @USPS Postmaster General DeJoy for your testimony today. The Democrats have put you in the cross hairs of another hyperbolic false attack perpetrated to scare people and gain political advantage. pic.twitter.com/ZmULg7IlQi
— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) August 21, 2020
While Democrats claim there's no way the Post Office can successfully process November's mail ballots, the Postmaster General's confidence in the ability of the Post Office has been backed up by independent sources such as a recent report from the R-Street Institute:
But for 2020, [the] worst case scenario grows less likely by the day. Indeed, recent agency financial filings paint a far less bleak picture than was the case at the outset of the pandemic.3 As of March 30, 2020, the USPS had almost $9 billion in cash on-hand, as well as a further $1.5 billion in other current assets, such as restricted cash and net receivables.4 Moreover, mail volumes did not immediately collapse as early predictions implied.Rather, most products saw only the modest declines typical of recent mail trends. In light of this, barring a sudden financial collapse, the postal service will not run out of money before November. Instead, like myriad private businesses, the USPS is keeping its head above water for now, biding time while it waits for the pandemic to subside. And, unlike many others, the agency does not need massive structural reform to keep the lights on through the fall. It already has the resources it needs to prevent any work stoppage that would disrupt a vote-by-mail election, and postal management simply needs to be a good steward of that money to ensure things go smoothly.
The report concludes:
While vote by mail will be new to many, and USPS is...far from a perfect institution, the agency has proven capable of reliably moving government documents for decades. Accordingly, there is little question that, as it has done so many times in the past, it will rise to the occasion… and deliver.
Postmaster Louis DeJoy will be appearing before the House Oversight Committee on Monday, August 24th at 10:00 a.m.