The US House of Representatives has passed a bill to fund the US Postal Service, amid ongoing complaints by Democrats that the Trump administration is attempting to sabotage the delivery of mail-in ballots ahead of the presidential election in November. The Democratic bill, which passed on Saturday despite opposition from Republicans, would provide $25bn in aid for the USPS and prioritize election mail as “first class”, to ensure ballots arrive in time to be counted in an election in which the coronavirus pandemic will cast a shadow over in-person voting. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, said the bill was necessary to “reject the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the critical mission of the postal service”. On the floor of the House, James Comer of Kentucky, the ranking Republican on the oversight committee, said the Democrats’ bill was the “result of a legislative process only slightly less absurd than the conspiracies, insinuations, and fabrications that gave rise to the purported need for it”. The bill is unlikely to progress further, with the Republican-held Senate unwilling to pass it. The White House has also signaled it would veto the bill, with Republicans claiming the postal service has plenty of cash on hand and is being used by Democrats for political purposes. Democrats have accused Louis DeJoy, a major donor to Donald Trump who is now postmaster general, of implementing cost-cutting measures meant to slow the mail, with the intention of aiding Trump in the election. Trump has falsely claimed there is widespread fraud in mail-in ballots, stating that “nobody knows what’s happening with the ballots and the lost ballots and the fraudulent ballots”.

All data is taken from the source: https://www.theguardian.com/
Article Link: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/aug/22/house-democrats-pass-25bn-bill-fund-us-postal-service


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