The U.S. Postal Service is a Pillar of Our Democracy

Dear Friends,

The U.S. Postal Service is part of the bedrock of our Republic, a service recognized as essential by our founders and enshrined in Article 1 of our Constitution. Today, millions of Americans and businesses of all sizes depend on its services, including for delivering medicine, food, paychecks, tax refunds, election ballots and much more.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, our Postal Service has become even more vital for keeping us safe and preventing even greater spread of this deadly disease.

Astoundingly, with this devastating pandemic far from under control, the Trump Administration has been quietly running a campaign to undermine and dismantle the U.S. Postal Service.

In May, the President installed a big money donor of his campaign as the new head of the Postal Service. Last month, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy moved their plan forward, announcing significant service downgrades and changes to the Postal Service that have caused massive delays and a spike in undelivered mail in the midst of a pandemic.

Even more troubling, the Trump Administration has been quietly removing mail sorting machines from post offices around the country. Photos and reports are pouring in from all over the country—including New York City—of postal drop boxes being removed without explanation. President Trump is publicly opposing any effort to strengthen the Postal Service because he’s afraid it will enable more voters to vote safely by mail in November. In fact, the Postal Service has reportedly notified 46 states and the District of Columbia that they may be unable to deliver some ballots cast by mail for the November election in time to be counted.

My colleagues and I are standing up to this nonsense. We have a duty to protect American lives and livelihoods by defending, and where necessary strengthening, the U.S. Postal Service.

Last week, I teamed up with more than 80 of my colleagues across party lines to express deep concerns to Postmaster General DeJoy about these operational changes that are compromising service. And on Wednesday, I joined an even bigger group of more than 170 House members to call the Postmaster General to reverse this assault on America’s Postal Service.

We aren’t stopping there. House Democrats have also taken action to deliver a COVID-19 rescue plan to the U.S. Postal Service as part of the Heroes Act, advanced out of the House more than 13 weeks ago. Our bill includes $25 billion to shore up the Postal Service and ends the Treasury Department's blockade of a $10 billion loan that Congress previously authorized for the U.S. Postal Service in the CARES Act.

Sadly, this is a fight that predates the current pandemic. In 2006, Republican leaders advanced legislation under the guise of “reform” to impose unusual new financial burdens on the U.S. Postal Service.

Earlier this year, I co-sponsored H.R.2382, the USPS Fairness Act, legislation that would specifically repeal the harmful and costly requirement that the U.S. Postal Service prepay retirement health benefits 75 years in advance. This bill would unsaddle the USPS of an immense and unnecessary financial burden. According to the American Postal Workers Union, the prefunding mandate is responsible for more than 90 percent of Postal Service net losses since 2007 and is a threat to its economic viability.

Since our founding as a nation, the U.S. Postal Service has served an essential public good. As we continue to grapple with life in a pandemic, including the essential task of holding safe, secure, free and fair elections in November, maintaining these services is a matter of life and death for the American people, and for our nation.

How have the recent changes to USPS affected you? What steps do you believe Congress should take to respond? Let me know by answering this survey below!

 (click survey image to open in a web browser)

DID YOU KNOW?

Throughout this pandemic, my office and I have worked to make sure you remain informed with the latest updates and recommendations on any and all COVID-19 related topics. With that in mind here is some information that may be of interest to you:

• The DOL issued a new public service announcement that helps to better protect yourself against identity theft.
  • Fraudsters are using real New Yorkers’ identities to file fraudulent claims and illegally collect benefits. They are specifically targeting individuals who are employed and not collecting unemployment benefits because those individuals are less likely to have an active claim that would prevent the criminals from filing a fraudulent claim.
  • Employees working in healthcare, education, government, and non-profits have been particularly impacted and should remain especially vigilant.
• Anyone who has received an official communication about unemployment benefits - such as a monetary determination letter - but did not apply for unemployment benefits, should immediately report it to the Department of Labor (DOL) at on.ny.gov/uifraud.
• New Yorkers impacted should also take steps to proactively protect themselves from identity theft, including those highlighted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at IdentityTheft.gov, such as: 
  • Changing passwords, logins, and pins for online accounts, especially banks;  
  • Placing a free fraud alert on their accounts with the three credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax);  
  • Getting a free credit report from annualcreditreport.com; 
  • Reporting the identity theft to the FTC; and 
  • Reporting a misused Social Security number.