WASHINGTON -- The House Oversight Committee has invited the new postmaster general to appear at a September hearing to examine operational changes at the U.S. Postal Service that are causing delays in mail deliveries across the country.
The plan imposed by Louis DeJoy, a Republican fundraiser who took over the top job at the Postal Service in June, eliminates overtime for hundreds of thousands of postal workers and orders that mail be kept until the next day if postal distribution centers are running late.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat who is chairwoman of the committee, said the Sept. 17 hearing will focus on "the need for on-time mail delivery during the ongoing pandemic and upcoming election," which is expected to include a major expansion of mail-in ballots.
Postal Service officials, bracing for steep losses from the nationwide shutdown caused by the coronavirus, have warned they will run out of money by the end of September without help from Congress. The service reported a $4.5 billion loss for the quarter ending in March, and it expects losses totaling more than $22 billion over the next 18 months.
