This past week, the United States Postal Service (USPS) has emerged as a surprising flashpoint amid fears that it might struggle to handle the expected surge in volume around Election Day as Americans cast absentee ballots in order to avoid contracting COVID-19 at their polling place. Those fears had been compounded by reforms instituted by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, which included shifting operational practices and taking sorting machines offline. These fears reached a boiling point last weekend when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) summoned the House of Representatives back into session to vote on the Delivering for America Act (HR 8015), which would block the Trump Administration’s plan for overhauling the USPS as well as provide the agency $25 billion. A vote in the House is expected to take place this Saturday, with additional Senate and House hearings on the USPS expected to take place over the next several days.
Additionally, on Tuesday Postmaster General Dejoy announced that he was suspending "longstanding operational initiatives" amid fears that the changes could delay election mail this Fall in the middle of the pandemic. "To avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail, I am suspending these initiatives until after the election is concluded," Postmaster General DeJoy said in a statement. Speaker Pelosi reacted to the announcement, “They felt the heat. And that's what we were trying to do, make it too hot for them to handle.”