MANCHESTER, N.H. – Congressman Chris Pappas (D-NH) joined with a group of current and former postal workers as well as family members of postal workers across from the Manchester Post Office on Wednesday to advocate greater support for the United States Postal Service (USPS).
In recent weeks, President Donald Trump has voiced opposition to funding the USPS, stating unfounded allegations that it leads to election fraud in spite of mailing in his own ballot on Tuesday.
That opposition has been one of the key sticking points in passing the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act, the latest legislation proposed by Democratic Congressional leaders for COVID-19 aid.
While the HEROES Act has stalled in the Senate, leadership from both parties have agreed to hold a vote on Saturday specifically for $25 billion in aid for the USPS. The $25 billion was requested by the USPS Board of Governors appointed by Trump several months ago, and Pappas believes that funding is sorely needed to help make up for revenue shortfalls brought forth by the COVID-19 pandemic and more may be needed in the future.
“We’re in an uncertain time due to COVID-19, but ($25 billion) is the best assessment of the Board of Governors and they know the ins and outs of the U.S. Postal Service and it seems to be the best guess at this time,” said Pappas. “We’ve got to make the commitment now. We need to provide that supplemental funding, and if more is needed down the road, we can reassess at that time.”
In addition to calling for greater funding of the USPS, Pappas also expressed concern over recent actions by USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who has been accused of attempting to disenfranchise voters through various cost-cutting methods.
“I don’t think (DeJoy) is the right person for the job,” said Pappas. “Clearly, the President selected him and he was a major donor to the Trump campaign. He had no experience with the U.S. Postal Service. It’s always best to have someone with the knowledge of how this service functions.”
Pappas also shared concerns from the group of assembled postal workers over DeJoy’s efforts as a prelude to the privatization of the postal service, which they say would disproportionately harm rural Americans and remove oversight for vital postal functions such as the mail-in ballots at the center of Trump’s allegations.
Bill Brickley, New Hampshire Legislative Liaison for the National Association of Letter Carriers has been a postal carrier for 34 years. According to Brickley, the recent controversy has caused stress among his colleagues, who are just seeking to do their jobs. He also believes the controversy is unfounded, citing a Pew Research poll that 91 percent of the U.S. supports the USPS.
Brickley also believes that the USPS is easily capable of handling the increased number of absentee ballots mailed this fall, with this fall’s level of mailed ballots being two to three times higher than normal levels, which account for approximately 1 to 2 percent of mail handled by the USPS during the months of September and October in election years.
“Support of the USPS should be a non-political issue, it’s liked by both Republicans and Democrats. We have a lot of support from Republican Senators in midwestern states because they know without us, many of their rural constituents won’t get their mail,” he says. “I think scared is the best way to describe how members of our union are feeling right now, we’re telling them to just follow through with your day-to-day duties and the politics will take care of itself.”
