Congress urges Postal Service to undo changes slowing mail

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers from both parties are calling on the U.S. Postal Service to immediately reverse operational changes that are causing delays in deliveries across the country just as big volume increases are expected for mail-in election voting.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday that changes imposed by the new, Republican postmaster general "threaten the timely delivery of mail — including medicines for seniors, paychecks for workers and absentee ballots for voters — that is essential to millions of Americans.''

In separate letters, two Montana Republicans, Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Greg Gianforte, also urged the Postal Service to reverse the July directive, which eliminates overtime for hundreds of thousands of postal workers and mandates that mail be kept until the next day if distribution centers are running late.

"This action, if not rescinded, will negatively impact mail delivery for Montanans and unacceptably increase the risk of late prescriptions, commercial products or bill delivery,'' Daines said Thursday in a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.

"Delaying mail service is unacceptable,” Gianforte wrote to DeJoy. “Do not continue down this road.”

In their letter, Pelosi and Schumer acknowledged that the Postal Service continues to face financial challenges, but said “enacting these policies as cost-cutting or efficiency measures as the COVID-19 public health emergency continues is counterproductive and unacceptable.''

During the pandemic, "Americans have turned to the Postal Service and depend on it for timely delivery of critical goods and a safe alternative to in-person interactions. As a result, we believe these changes must be reversed,'' the Democrats said.

The flurry of...