Speaking to the House Oversight & Reform Committee on Monday, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy attacked the narrative purveyed by some Democrats and mainstream media members that the Trump administration was manipulating the United States Postal Service for its own political advantage.
DeJoy stated:
As part of this conversation, there are many inaccuracies about my actions that I wish to again correct. First: I did not direct the removal of blue collection boxes or the removal of mail processing equipment, Second: I did not direct a cutback on hours at any of our post offices. And finally, I did not direct the elimination or any cutback in overtime. I did, however, suspend these practices to remove any misperceptions about our commitment to delivering the nation’s election mail. Any further assertions by the media or elected officials is furthering a false narrative to the American people.
DeJoy just debunked Dems’ USPS conspiracy in about 30 seconds pic.twitter.com/nYVtYNDnWJ
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) August 24, 2020
Last week, DeJoy snapped back hard at Michigan Democrat Senator Gary Peters, who queried him about overtime. Peters said, “We’re being told that you’re limiting overtime and this could possibly add to backlogs. Are you limiting overtime or is that being suspended right now and people will work overtime if necessary to move the mail out efficiently every single day?”
DeJoy responded, “Senator, we’ve never limited overtime.”
Peters: “It’s been curtailed, significantly, is what I understand.”
DeJoy: “It’s not been curtailed by me or the leadership team here —“
Peters, insistent: “It’s been curtailed significantly, it’s gone down; it’s been limited. Will you commit to —”
DeJoy: “Since I’ve been here we’ve spent $700 million on overtime, overtime runs on a 13% rate before I got here and it runs at a 13% rate now.”
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy fact checks Democrat senator: “we never eliminated overtime…since I've been here we've spent $700 million on overtime, overtime runs on a 13% rate before I got here and it runs at a 13% rate now”https://t.co/Ckx6GiWZAi pic.twitter.com/vkyeeBecZM
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 21, 2020
As The Daily Wire has reported:
Hundreds of Democrats and left-wing celebrities have claimed without evidence that President Donald Trump is trying to “steal” or “cheat” in the upcoming 2020 election by not funding the USPS. Democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was one of the main voices promoting unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about what was going on, claiming without evidence that “Republicans are working with Trump to destroy the USPS and sabotage the delivery of ballots.”…
Numerous Democrats and media figures have claimed without evidence that Trump and DeJoy are engaged in some sort of criminal conspiracy to subvert election laws in an attempt to get Trump re-elected. Examples of those promoting unsubstantiated claims include House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), frequent CNN guest Laurence Tribe, MSNBC host Joy Reid, and leftist Preet Bharara. …
Others, like Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) have claimed that DeJoy’s “main qualification for this job is that he is a large political donor for President Trump.” While he has donated to Republicans, the assertion that his donations are his “main qualification” is clearly false. The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board noted that “DeJoy built a trucking company from 10 employees in 1983 to almost 7,000 in 2014” and that after he sold the company to XPO Logistics he stayed on “as CEO of that company’s North America supply-chain business.” The Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board noted that DeJoy has sought to get the USPS’s financial matters in order by emphasizing “the need to stick to schedules and cut overtime cost.”