STEUBE: Democrats Have 100% Politicized the Postal Service to Stoke Fear with the American People
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Greg Steube (R-Fla.) today questioned Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in a full committee hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, titled “Protecting the Timely Delivery of Mail, Medicine, and Mail-in Ballots.”
It’s unfortunate that there are Democrats on this Committee that have 100% politicized the Postal Service to try to stoke fear with the American people,” Steube said. “But we shouldn’t be surprised. It’s a familiar theme for Democrats over the last two years.
Watch his full remarks here or below.
“Thank you Madam Chair.
First of all, as a veteran who served in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, to compare postal workers to our military servicemembers in Iraq or Afghanistan quite frankly to me is offensive. Last time I checked, postal service drivers weren’t getting their vehicles blown up by IEDs or being shot at as they drove around and delivered mail so to try to compare our military servicemembers who sacrifice on the battlefields across this world to the Postal Service members is frankly offensive as a person that had served.
It’s unfortunate that there are Democrats on this Committee that have 100% politicized the Postal Service to try to stoke fear with the American people. But we shouldn’t be surprised. It’s a familiar theme for Democrats over the last two years.
A Subcommittee Chairman of this Committee when asked on national television, and I quote, ‘are you saying, say it directly, is this an attempt by the President, do you believe, to interfere in the election?’ The answer was, ‘absolutely.”
There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that President Trump is using the Postal Service to interfere with the election. None, in fact. Quite the opposite. But Democrats don’t care about the facts so here we go again.
Seems like just yesterday we were hearing how the Trump campaign colluded and conspired with Russia to interfere with the last election. And when the facts actually came out, there was no evidence that ever occurred. This is absolutely a concocted narrative by the Democrats to stoke fear in the American people just like the Russia collusion hoax.
Financial issues have plagued the Postal Service for decades and is vastly in need of reform. Mr. DeJoy just stated that $10 billion loss a year. Businesses couldn’t operate that way.
But the Democrats don’t want real reform. If they did, they would have worked with our witness today. They would have worked with Republicans in crafting a bill. They would have worked with our counterparts in the Senate. They would have worked with the Administration to actually come up with reform that would actually pass.
This is a political stunt to further the Democrats’ newest interference hoax. I represent 9 counties in Florida and just last week we held our primary elections. Florida saw the largest turnout in a presidential election year primary since 1992 – that was 18 years. About 2.3 million mail-in ballots were cast, which made up about 59% of all ballots cast. Initial reports indicate that there were minimal issues with the additional ballots handled by the Postal Service. There were no issues in my 9 counties with absentee ballots in this district that I’m aware of.
STEUBE: Mr. Dejoy, would it be fair to say that the Postal Service successfully delivered during Florida’s primary last week?
DEJOY: Yes sir.
STEUBE: The 2.3 million mail-in ballots that were cast in Florida are a significant amount for one State. What are the factors that led to the Postal Service being able to deliver the substantial increase in mail-in ballots on time
DEJOY: When it comes to ballots, the Postal Service, prior to my arrival and of the heightened awareness of this particular election throws everything it has at moving ballots through the system. The ballots are usually identified with special markings and every employee and manager is very much focused on making that ballots move quickly through the process. Sometimes in advance of First Class mail. So, those particular processes were deployed and will be deployed as we come into the 2020 election.
STEUBE: And Florida has, am I correct in stating that Florida has a reasonable timeframe for Postal Service to return the ballots as opposed to some States that have allowed ballots to be requested at the last minute, therefore delaying their ability for the Postal Service to get those ballots to the precincts in time?
DEJOY: Thank you – and that is a big part of the effort of the Postal Service. Prior to my arrival and since my arrival and the purpose of sending out the letters to all the States with regard to, we just want to make everybody aware of what is it that will really work. We can put all these additional processes on, but it would be more helpful if we had reasonable standards from the Election Boards that comply with our processes to enable us to do it more efficiently and effectively.
STEUBE: So, to clarify, do you need any additional funding to be able to successfully deliver ballots in Florida this November?
DEJOY: No, we do not, sir.
STEUBE: Are there any lessons that other States can learn from the way that Florida handles our ballots in absentee voting?
DEJOY: I’m not particularly familiar with Florida but our general counsel has put out letters with regard to each State’s election guidelines. We have a website that’s just been posted on normal process and, in general, I will say on behalf of 650,000 postal workers get your ballot early and please vote early. That is just common sense. But, if Florida had a good process, so I’m sure their electoral board procedures were good. We can’t do this all by ourselves so we appreciate every State’s help in reviewing their standards and getting and taking the advice of the Postal Service General Counsel and what’s on our website.”
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