{"id":66123,"date":"2020-08-23T01:21:08","date_gmt":"2020-08-23T01:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/"},"modified":"2020-08-23T01:21:08","modified_gmt":"2020-08-23T01:21:08","slug":"house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"House passes $25 billion Postal Service bill"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

House Democrats passed their Postal Service<\/a> bill late Saturday afternoon, despite Republican accusations that they were chasing a \u201cconspiracy theory\u201d about a crumbling agency.<\/p>\n

The bill garnered support from 26 Republicans and passed on a 257-150 vote. The vote was held during a rare Saturday session that interrupted the House\u2019s break.<\/p>\n

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of New York, one of the Republicans that voted for the bill, said this was a long-standing issue that needed to overcome partisan divisions and be addressed.<\/p>\n

The bill would infuse the Postal Service<\/a> with $25 billion in additional funding \u2014 an amount suggested by the agency\u2019s board of governors earlier this year \u2014 and reverse all new policy changes to revert the agency back to how it was functioning in January 2020.<\/p>\n

Democratic leaders touted the bill as a vital step toward shoring up the USPS ahead of its critical role in the November elections. They argued the policy provisions would help prevent voter suppression.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new Postmaster General is using this lack of funding to justify sweeping and damaging changes to Postal Service<\/a> operations, and we have seen the results,\u201d House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney said on the House floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes absolutely no sense to implement these dramatic changes in the middle of a pandemic, less than three months before the November elections,\u201d the New York Democrat continued. \u201cThe American people do not want anyone messing with the Post Office. They certainly do not want it to be politicized. They just want their mail. They want their medicines. And they want their mail-in ballots delivered in a timely way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The legislation comes amidst widespread concern about new policy changes, including the collection of mailboxes, the decommissioning of mail sorting machines, changes to mail routes, and cuts to overtime \u2014 with many across the country reporting delivery delays.<\/p>\n

While Democrats have heavily emphasized the impact the changes could have on the pandemic-era election, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are also concerned about the effect it\u2019s having on rural communities and those desperately needing medications.<\/p>\n

Republican leadership argued Democrats were making a much bigger deal than necessary of the Postal Service<\/a>\u2019s struggles and spreading \u201cmailbox myths.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Trump slammed the bill as a \u201cmoney wasting hoax\u201d and said Democrats were just trying to push through their own priorities for mail-in ballots.<\/p>\n

\u201cI urge everyone to be calm \u2026 the Postal Service<\/a> is not incapacitated. It is still fully capable of delivering the mail,\u201d House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said.<\/p>\n

He argued that the USPS will be financially solvent through August 2021, that the agency was more than capable of delivering mail ballots at its current capacity, and that mailbox collection was not an abnormal policy.<\/p>\n

At a Senate hearing on the policy changes, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy acknowledged there was a \u201cdip\u201d in services, but suggested they were only temporary bugs.<\/p>\n

At one point, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, Louisiana Republican, shouted, \u201cThis is not a real crisis!\u201d<\/p>\n

He highlighted his frustration by pointing out that more than 60 Democrats didn\u2019t come into Capitol Hill, instead voting by proxy.<\/p>\n

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, refuted the GOP\u2019s argument against additional funding for the Postal Service<\/a>, arguing it was different than other businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people say, \u2018Well it doesn\u2019t pay its own way\u2019 \u2014 it\u2019s not a business, it\u2019s a service,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd while we always want to subject every federal dollar to the scrutiny of what we\u2019re getting for it. Let us remember that it is a service.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill also came under fire from Republicans who wanted to see Democrats address COVID relief rather than focus specifically on the Postal Service<\/a>.<\/p>\n

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows came up to Capitol Hill on Saturday, urging Speaker Pelosi to roll the Postal Service<\/a> bill into a COVID-relief package with funds for the small business loan program and enhanced unemployment benefits \u2014 both of which expired earlier this month.<\/p>\n

More than 100 rank-and-file Democrats have also requested that their leadership take up some sort of COVID relief bill.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Pelosi said Mr. Meadows\u2019 request was \u201cdeficient\u201d because it didn\u2019t address school funding or food security. She resisted narrow bills during the larger negotiations and defended deviating from that stance with the Postal Service<\/a> bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not for splitting it up, except this is an emergency, and it has policy in it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is more of a partisan bill than it is a real attempt at solving the problem, but hopefully its a start to something,\u201d Mr. Meadows said of the Postal Service<\/a> bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes everything a political issue is the fact that we\u2019re 70 plus days out from a November 3rd election,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Senate Republicans said they won\u2019t be taking up the Postal Service<\/a> bill unless additional COVID relief is attached.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Sign up for Daily Newsletters<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

House Democrats passed their Postal Service bill late Saturday afternoon, despite Republican accusations that they were chasing a \u201cconspiracy theory\u201d about a crumbling agency. The bill garnered support from 26 Republicans and passed on a 257-150 vote. The vote was held during a rare Saturday session that interrupted the House\u2019s break. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[592,1633],"class_list":{"0":"post-66123","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-house","9":"tag-passes"},"yoast_head":"\nHouse passes $25 billion Postal Service bill - Virus Reports<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"House passes $25 billion Postal Service bill - Virus Reports\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"House Democrats passed their Postal Service bill late Saturday afternoon, despite Republican accusations that they were chasing a \u201cconspiracy theory\u201d about a crumbling agency. The bill garnered support from 26 Republicans and passed on a 257-150 vote. The vote was held during a rare Saturday session that interrupted the House\u2019s break. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Virus Reports\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-23T01:21:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com\/virusreports\/2020\/08\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/#\/schema\/person\/b4d9935a5c761848b065a92393ecc319\"},\"headline\":\"House passes $25 billion Postal Service bill\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-23T01:21:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/\"},\"wordCount\":819,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com\/virusreports\/2020\/08\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"House\",\"passes\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/\",\"name\":\"House passes $25 billion Postal Service bill - Virus Reports\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com\/virusreports\/2020\/08\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-23T01:21:08+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com\/virusreports\/2020\/08\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com\/virusreports\/2020\/08\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":700,\"caption\":\"House passes $25 billion Postal Service bill\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"House passes $25 billion Postal Service bill\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/\",\"name\":\"Virus Reports\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Virus Report\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com\/virusreports\/2020\/05\/virus-reports-colored.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com\/virusreports\/2020\/05\/virus-reports-colored.png\",\"width\":1247,\"height\":268,\"caption\":\"Virus Report\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/#\/schema\/person\/b4d9935a5c761848b065a92393ecc319\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"House passes $25 billion Postal Service bill - Virus Reports","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"House passes $25 billion Postal Service bill - Virus Reports","og_description":"House Democrats passed their Postal Service bill late Saturday afternoon, despite Republican accusations that they were chasing a \u201cconspiracy theory\u201d about a crumbling agency. The bill garnered support from 26 Republicans and passed on a 257-150 vote. The vote was held during a rare Saturday session that interrupted the House\u2019s break. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of…","og_url":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/","og_site_name":"Virus Reports","article_published_time":"2020-08-23T01:21:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":700,"url":"https:\/\/s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com\/virusreports\/2020\/08\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/#\/schema\/person\/b4d9935a5c761848b065a92393ecc319"},"headline":"House passes $25 billion Postal Service bill","datePublished":"2020-08-23T01:21:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/"},"wordCount":819,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com\/virusreports\/2020\/08\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill.jpg","keywords":["House","passes"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/","url":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/","name":"House passes $25 billion Postal Service bill - Virus Reports","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com\/virusreports\/2020\/08\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill.jpg","datePublished":"2020-08-23T01:21:08+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com\/virusreports\/2020\/08\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com\/virusreports\/2020\/08\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill.jpg","width":1200,"height":700,"caption":"House passes $25 billion Postal Service bill"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/house-passes-25-billion-postal-service-bill\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"House passes $25 billion Postal Service bill"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/#website","url":"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/","name":"Virus Reports","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/#organization","name":"Virus Report","url":"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com\/virusreports\/2020\/05\/virus-reports-colored.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com\/virusreports\/2020\/05\/virus-reports-colored.png","width":1247,"height":268,"caption":"Virus Report"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/#\/schema\/person\/b4d9935a5c761848b065a92393ecc319","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/virusreports.net\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virusreports.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}