DeJoy Will Be Questioned Once more Amid Mail-In Voting Issues

WASHINGTON — Postmaster Basic Louis DeJoy will seem earlier than lawmakers once more on Monday, this time testifying to the Home Oversight Committee, the place he’s anticipated to face a lot harder questioning from lawmakers on the Democratic-run panel than he did throughout his Senate listening to on Friday.

Mr. DeJoy is anticipated to proceed defending the cost-cutting measures he has put in place and push again towards recommendations that the adjustments are supposed to affect the 2020 election by making mail-in voting much less dependable.

Robert M. Duncan, the chairman of the Postal Service’s board of governors, can even testify on Monday, the primary public remarks he has given on the state of the embattled company. Mr. Duncan, who was appointed by President Trump in 2017 and confirmed by the Senate in 2018, oversees the service and spearheaded the choice of Mr. DeJoy, introducing his identify into the search course of as a contender.

Mr. Duncan will inform lawmakers that “there have to be dramatic adjustments” to the Postal Service whether it is to succeed and that Mr. DeJoy was chosen to be a “transformational chief,” in keeping with his ready testimony obtained by The New York Occasions.

Mr. DeJoy is embroiled in a political firestorm as current adjustments aimed toward decreasing the Postal Service’s prices — together with reducing additional time and limiting journeys — have led to delays in mail supply, together with drugs, pension checks and payments. That has fueled issues about whether or not the service will be capable of deal with what is anticipated to be a report variety of mail-in ballots for the 2020 election.

The Occasions might be live-streaming the listening to, which begins at 10 a.m.

Right here’s what to observe because the listening to will get underway.

Will Mr. DeJoy deviate from Friday’s defensive posture?

Up to now, Mr. DeJoy plans to supply the identical message to the Home that he did to the Senate. His opening assertion is similar one he offered to the Senate committee, in keeping with a assessment of the ready remarks.

That testimony refers to a “false narrative” that Mr. DeJoy says is being promoted about each his intentions and the adjustments, which he says are wanted to assist the Postal Service’s monetary woes however that civil rights teams, state attorneys normal and Democrats have derided as an try to disenfranchise voters.

Mr. DeJoy, a serious donor to Mr. Trump and different Republicans, on Friday referred to as recommendations that he may deliberately gradual poll supply to sway the election “outrageous.”

However lawsuits filed by a number of states, in addition to complaints filed with lawmakers, have asserted that there are widespread issues with mail supply that might portend issues in November. Six states and the District of Columbia sued Mr. DeJoy and the Postal Service on Friday, saying that current operational and coverage adjustments have been unlawful and “designed to undermine” the company’s potential to function successfully.

The criticism says useless animals and rotting meals have been left inside mail processing vegetation, state pension checks in Delaware have been delayed and drugs deliveries in rural North Carolina have run two weeks late.

Below robust questioning from lawmakers on Friday, together with Republicans, Mr. DeJoy acknowledged that the strikes had slowed some mail supply and reiterated that he would droop his cost-cutting measures till after the election.

However he mentioned his deliberate to radically overhaul the Postal Service have been mandatory due to its monetary issues. And he challenged lawmakers to revamp the company’s retirement profit obligations that Congress imposed years in the past, which have pushed the company tens of billions of {dollars} into the pink.

Will the listening to make clear how Mr. DeJoy was chosen?

A central line of questioning on Monday is anticipated to deal with how the board of governors chosen Mr. DeJoy, a logistics government whose identify was not on an preliminary record of candidates offered to the board.

Among the many questions lawmakers are prone to ask: What position did Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin play within the seek for a brand new chief? As The Occasions reported on Saturday, Mr. Mnuchin was a key participant in choosing the board members who employed Mr. DeJoy and in pushing the agenda that he has pursued.

[Learn extra about Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s position within the choice course of.]

Late final week, David C. Williams, the previous vice chairman of the board of governors, who was appointed by Mr. Trump as a Democratic member of the panel, advised Home Democrats in scathing testimony that Mr. DeJoy was the least certified candidate the board interviewed for the job, and that Mr. Duncan had instructed him to the panel.

Mr. Williams additionally accused Mr. Mnuchin of politicizing the Postal Service, an impartial company whose chief has been walled off from the White Home since 1970.

When he resigned from the board in protest on the eve of Mr. DeJoy’s choice, Mr. Williams mentioned that no severe background investigation into the candidate had been carried out — regardless of his request for one — and {that a} transient assessment by the company’s inspector normal had surfaced potential issues about contract work Mr. DeJoy’s logistics agency had achieved for the Postal Service.

Mr. Duncan will rebut Mr. Williams’s accusations that Mr. DeJoy was not certified and never investigated. In his ready remarks, Mr. Duncan mentioned the board reviewed greater than 200 certified candidates, who underwent background checks and have been vetted by government search corporations.

Will Mr. DeJoy decide to reversing current coverage adjustments?

Mr. DeJoy’s choice final week to droop cost-cutting and different operational adjustments till after the November election has achieved little to mollify critics, together with union officers and postal employees, who say a number of the adjustments already put in place have achieved grave harm to the Postal Service.

Democrats will push Mr. DeJoy to decide to reversing the strikes.

Lawmakers, together with state attorneys normal, have expressed concern over the elimination of additional time, the elimination of mailboxes and the discount of submit workplace hours.

A few of these adjustments preceded Mr. DeJoy’s tenure — together with the elimination of mailboxes and mail sorting machines.

Mr. DeJoy vowed on Friday to cease elimination of mail processing tools and blue assortment bins, and advised senators that he didn’t know concerning the machine elimination when it started, saying it was “not a crucial subject inside the Postal Service.”

A few of these adjustments could be onerous to unwind, together with restoring the mail sorting machines which were taken out of service. Some have been disassembled or destroyed, in keeping with union officers, postal employees and lawmakers.

Senator Maggie Hassan, Democrat of New Hampshire, advised Mr. DeJoy on Friday that a number of machines in Manchester had been taken out of service.

“Three of them are simply sitting there, and I’m advised that considered one of them has been dismantled and bought to an organization in Pennsylvania for scrap metallic,” she mentioned.

Mr. DeJoy is anticipated to take care of that “dramatic” adjustments are mandatory to handle the long-term monetary sustainability of the Postal Service.

Which lawmakers are those to observe?

Various Democratic lawmakers, who’ve captured the general public’s consideration for his or her incisive cross-examination of witnesses, are prone to take heart stage on Monday, together with Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Katie Porter of California.

Ms. Porter, together with Consultant Raja Krishnamoorthi, Democrat of Illinois, has already pressed the board of governors on doable political motivations for awarding Mr. DeJoy the postmaster normal job, and can most certainly seize on their very own investigative work of their questioning.

These lawmakers might be countered by Republicans on the oversight panel, who’ve accused Democrats of pushing a conspiracy principle with their warnings that adjustments on the Postal Service may jeopardize the integrity of the November election. That line of assault is anticipated to be led by Consultant Jim Jordan of Ohio, who is thought for his pugnacious demeanor.