Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA via AP Images
Mailboxes on a rainy day in Washington, D.C.
Trump’s henchman Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has been warning that the USPS lacks the resources to deliver mail-in ballots and ballot applications on time. It’s clear that this is part of a Trump-directed ploy to hold down mail balloting and early voting.
In fact, according to the most recent (August 7) filing by the Postal Service with the SEC, the post office has $12.9 billion on hand, more than enough for the remainder of the year, including the Christmas rush, which dwarfs the needs of mail-in balloting.
In addition, the original CARES Act, enacted by Congress and signed by President Trump in March, includes a $10 billion line of credit from the Treasury to the Postal Service.
It took Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin until late July to negotiate the terms for releasing the funds, and they include giving Treasury privileged information and sweeping operational control of the USPS. All this was intended to allow Mnuchin and DeJoy to work hand in glove to sabotage the Postal Service.
Nonetheless, once those terms were agreed to, Mnuchin put out a release on July 29 indicating that the $10 billion could now be tapped as needed.
“While the USPS is able to fund its operating expenses without additional borrowing at this time, we are pleased to have reached an agreement on the material terms and conditions of a loan, should the need arise,” Mnuchin said.
Since then, DeJoy has issued several statements, contending that the USPS cannot handle the increased load of mail-in ballots. Congress’s delay in agreeing to additional aid for the Postal Service is one of several excuses.
DeJoy’s apparent failure to request final Treasury sign-off to draw on the line of credit is just one more piece of evidence that the entire story of USPS incapacity is total BS.
But there has been no further mention of that $10 billion line of credit, either by USPS or Treasury. It is sitting there, now having been approved by both Congress and Mnuchin.
DeJoy’s apparent failure to request final Treasury sign-off to draw on it is just one more piece of evidence that the entire story of USPS incapacity is total BS. The local stories of mail piling up are entirely the result of perverse management decisions, such as banning overtime, during a pandemic that has thousands of postal workers out sick.
Last night, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Congress back into session to deal with the contrived crisis of the Postal Service. This will help put political pressure on Republicans, as localities and citizens feel the impact of Trump and DeJoy’s deliberate sabotage.
But the Republicans and DeJoy will try to have it both ways. The Postal Service doesn’t need more money. And the Postal Service doesn’t have enough money to deliver on mail-in voting. Both things can’t be true.
When the House convenes to act on the Maloney bill, the Delivering for America Act, the important part of the legislation is not funding but the prohibition on operational changes designed to sabotage the Postal Service. The bill includes a provision to “prohibit the Postal Service from implementing any changes to the operations or level of service it had in place on January 1, 2020” until the coronavirus pandemic has ended. The risk is that the public will be confused about funding issues, which are bogus, versus deliberate sabotage, which is real.
