Ranking Member Klobuchar Statement on Postmaster General Suspending Changes at USPS until After Election

Klobuchar and her colleagues have called on USPS to immediately reverse changes to Postal Service operations and address mail service delays 

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration with oversight jurisdiction over federal elections, released the following statement after the U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced that the United States Postal Service (USPS) will halt changes in policies and operations that are causing mail delays until after the election.

For weeks, Senator Klobuchar has led an effort with her colleagues to call on USPS to reverse changes to postal service operations and address mail service delays. 

“While it is a positive development that Postmaster General Dejoy announced that USPS will suspend policies causing mail delays until after the election, we still need answers. It is not clear if mail processing equipment and collection boxes that have been removed will be returned, or whether increased costs for election mail will still be imposed. We still must pass legislation and the Senate should come back in session to pass the Heroes Act as well as postal standards.”

Last week Klobuchar along with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and other top Democrats from Congressional committees with jurisdiction over federal elections and the Postal Service – Chairperson Zoe Lofgren of the Committee on House Administration, Ranking Member Gary C. Peters of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform – sent a detailed ten-page letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy demanding answers to grave questions about sweeping changes he is making at hundreds of postal facilities across the country which are slowing the mail and therefore jeopardize the integrity of the election. 

Earlier this month, Klobuchar, Gary Peters (D-MI), Ranking Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Tom Carper (D-DE), and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), led the entire Senate Democratic caucus in a letter urging U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to provide answers regarding reports of recent changes to long-standing practices at USPS that would result in increased delivery times and costs for election mail, and urged him not take any further action that makes it harder and more expensive for states and election jurisdictions to mail ballots.  

Also this month, Klobuchar, Peters, Carper, and Schumer sent a letter to U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy urging USPS to uphold its procedures for reliably delivering election mail and to communicate clearly and consistently with election officials and voters about expectations for the receipt and delivery of election mail. This letter followed a previous request from the lawmakers that demanded answers from DeJoy after he refused to answer whether reported changes restricting mail delivery came at his direction.

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