After weeks of mounting concern over mail delays and financial struggles for the U.S. Postal Service, members of San Diego's congressional delegation gathered with post office employees at the Midway Post Office to show their support for the agency.
Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA 53rd) said the role of the post office affects all Americans.
“Suddenly blue mailboxes have disappeared, sorting machines have been turned off, postal workers have been told to go home and let mail pile up on tables, and post offices have closed during lunch,” Davis said. “These actions hurt everyone.”
Fellow Congressman Mike Levin (D-CA 49th), who sits on the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, said the slowing of mail service directly impacted people’s lives.
“Millions of Americans depend on the postal service to deliver prescriptions, social security benefits, paychecks, and yes, absentee ballots,” Levin said.
House Democrats have recently proposed $25 billion for the post office, the amount also proposed by the agency’s Board of Governors, who was appointed by President Donald Trump. But the Trump administration and the GOP are hesitant to agree to provide more than $10 billion in relief for USPS.
Eddie Cooper Jr., president of San Diego American Postal Workers Union and said there is a dire need for the larger relief proposal.
“The main thing that’s looming right now for the United States Postal Service is the $25 billion stimulus that we so desperately need. That’s going to affect the running of the United States Postal service," he said. “Without that stimulus money, the postal service can literally be out of money here in the next four to five months. That is what is critical and urgent right now. ”
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a Trump appointee, announced Tuesday he will suspend controversial changes instituted for the post office until after the November election.
Later this week, the House will return to session to vote on legislation that would prohibit implementing any changes to service that had been in place on Jan. 1 of this year.
