FILE - In this Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020, file photo, a person drops applications for mail-in-ballots into a mail box in Omaha, Neb. U.S. Postal Service warnings that it can’t guarantee ballots sent by mail will arrive on time have put a spotlight on the narrow timeframes most states allow to request and return those ballots. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)
FILE - In this Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020, file photo, a person drops applications for mail-in-ballots into a mail box in Omaha, Neb. U.S. Postal Service warnings that it can’t guarantee ballots sent by mail will arrive on time have put a spotlight on the narrow timeframes most states allow to request and return those ballots. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)
(Washington) — The House has approved legislation that would reverse recent changes in U.S. Postal Service operations.
The measure would also send $25 billion in emergency funds to shore up the agency ahead of November’s presidential election.
Passage was 257 to 150 and came after heated debate.
President Donald Trump had urged a no vote, calling concerns over mail delivery a “hoax,” and the White House says he will veto the bill if it passes the GOP-led Senate. More than two dozen Republicans broke with the president and backed the legislation.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the Postal Service will be “election central” as millions of Americans opt for mail-in ballots during the coronavirus pandemic.
Republicans are unlikely to support the bill. They say the postal problems are overblown.
Trump has baselessly excoriated mail ballots as fraudulent, worried that an increase could cost him the election. Democrats have been more likely than Republicans to vote by mail in primary contests held so far this year.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told senators Friday that election mail will arrive on time, but he could not provide a plan.
Democrats and some Republicans say actions by the new postmaster general, a Trump ally and a major Republican donor, have endangered millions of Americans who rely on the post office to obtain prescription drugs and other needs, including an expected surge in mail-in voting this fall.
Pelosi called the House back into session over the crisis at the Postal Service, setting up a political showdown amid growing concerns that the Trump White House is trying to undermine the agency ahead of the election.
Pelosi cut short lawmakers’ summer recess with a vote expected Saturday on legislation that would prohibit changes at the agency. The package will also include $25 billion to shore up the Postal Service, which faces continued financial losses.
The Postal Service is among the nation’s oldest and more popular institutions, strained in recent years by declines first-class and business mail, but now hit with new challenges during the coronavirus pandemic.
A collection of interviews, photos, and music videos, featuring local musicians who have stopped by the WITF performance studio to share a little discussion and sound. Produced by WITF’s Joe Ulrich.
