Murphy Votes Against House Democrats’ USPS Legislation
Washington, D.C. – On Saturday, August 22, 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 8015. If it became law, the legislation would not allow the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to make any operational changes from those that were in effect on January 1, 2020 until January 1, 2021 or the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency. The bill would also allocate an additional $25 billion to the USPS.
Congressman Greg Murphy, M.D. (NC-03) released the following statement after voting against the measure:
"Emergency sessions of Congress during the August district work period are typically reserved for serious matters. This time Speaker Pelosi decided to call the House back to Washington to fan the flames of Democrats' conspiracy theory about President Trump using the USPS to steal the 2020 election. Just like their conspiracy theory about Trump-Russia collusion in the 2016 election, this is an irresponsible and unnecessary partisan charade.
"The USPS has $14 billion in cash on hand right now and was given $10 billion in the CARES Act. According to USPS officials, that is enough funding to operate through August 2021. Why should we give the USPS $25 billion of money they don't need and have not requested? That is a major waste of taxpayer dollars.
"Even if you set aside the merits of mail-in voting, which still give me much reason for pause considering the potential for voter fraud, the USPS has the proven capability to process mail-in voting for the upcoming election. The postal service processes more than 400 million pieces of mail every day. Even if every single one of the 158 million registered voters in America were to vote by mail on the same day, the increase in volume would easily be manageable. The massive influx of mail during the period from Thanksgiving to Christmas time is far greater than the amount of mail that would need to be processed if every registered voter mailed their ballots on the same day and the USPS handles that increase year after year without problem.
"Many people in the Democratic Party and in the media have also perpetrated a lie that the Trump Administration was deliberately removing mailboxes to stifle mail-in voting. This is utterly false, simply ridiculous and a lie to the American people. The Board of Governors appoints the Postmaster General and the President of the United States does not have control over the USPS. In addition, when Barack Obama was the president, 12,000 mailboxes were removed and more than 80 mail facilities were closed. Where were Democrats' cries for emergency votes and hearings then? This is obviously a manufactured crisis created by Democrats, who are attempting to use a non-partisan institution like the USPS for political gain," said Murphy.
Murphy continued with his concerns about the future of the USPS and Democrats' rhetoric toward Postmaster General Louis DeJoy:
"Having said all of this, the postal service desperately needs reforms if we want it to continue to be viable. Just last year, USPS reported $71.1 billion in revenue and $79.9 billion in expenses, which is a net loss of $8.8 billion. The USPS has lost $69 billion during the past 11 fiscal years. These are not fiscally sustainable numbers. The USPS needs real reform if we don't want to continue hemorrhaging taxpayer dollars, which is why Postmaster General DeJoy set out to make changes when he took the helm in May this year.
"The effort by Democrats to assassinate the character of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is sickening, especially considering the fact that the non-partisan Board of Governors unanimously selected him to be postmaster general. He is not an official who was ‘hand-picked' by President Trump as many suggest – he was elected by the Board of Governors – and DeJoy's policy changes were simply intended to make the post office more cost effective. He has since stopped those policies to ensure the public that he is not doing anything nefarious to alter the results of the election. Democrats' political opportunism on this front is frankly despicable," concluded Murphy.