(Houston, TX) – Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07), along with 174 of her House colleagues, called on Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to answer for the operational changes implemented at the U.S. Postal Service that impact the ability to deliver mail in a timely and effective manner.  In a letter sent yesterday, the Members note that new policies weaken the ability of the Postal Service to respond to local needs, including a policy directing post offices to no longer treat election mail as First Class.  

The Members wrote: “[T]he United States Postal Service is a pillar of our American Democracy that is enshrined in the Constitution, which empowers Congress to ‘establish Post Offices and Post Roads.’  The Postal Service provides critical services for the American people: delivering medicine to seniors, paychecks to workers, tax refunds to millions and absentee ballots to voters.  

“It is always essential that the Postal Service be able to deliver mail in a timely and effective manner.  During the once-in-a-century health and economic crisis of COVID-19, the Postal Service’s smooth functioning is a matter of life-or-death, and is critical for protecting lives, livelihoods and the life of our American Democracy.”

The full text of the letter sent yesterday can be found here.  This is the latest in a series of Congressional pushes against changes that would erode service, confidence, and solvency of the Postal Service.  Earlier this month, after Postal Service documents outlining significant changes to operations were made public – such as eliminating overtime, reducing hours for letter carriers, and prohibiting extra trips to deliver mail – Congresswoman Fletcher joined her colleagues calling for the Postmaster General to denounce these changes and ensure they do not go into effect.  After calling on Congressional leadership to include the U.S. Postal Service in a COVID-19 relief package, Congresswoman Fletcher also voted in support of The Heroes Act, which provides $25 billion to support the Postal Service.