Science, is influencing decisions on public health. Theres a lot to get to this morning. First, lets go to cnns pamela brown in washington for the latest on this uspa hearing. What do we expect here . Certainly hard questions from democratic lawmakers. How is the postmaster general going to answer . Well, that is the question, and this is likely to be much more contentious, jim, than what we saw last friday before the senate. This is the emergency oversight hearing led by House Democrats. Remember, it was just last week that nearly 100 House Democrats were pushing for dejoys ouster. Of course, this comes as democrats over weekend voted on this bill that would reverse changes dejoy has made as the postmaster general and would halt any further changes until after the pandemic, now the uspa pushed back on that over the weekend saying that that would hamper its ability to be efficient and to cut necessary costs, but expect House Democrats today to scrutinize dejoys changes that he has made before the election, changes like cutting down on overtime, cutting down on the post office hours, removing mail sorting machines. Now, as we know, dejoy put a halt to those changes but he had said in fridays hearing that he would not be putting those mail sorting machines back online, those that have already been removed. Another aspect that dems are expected to scrutinize is this election of dejoy and mnuchins role, treasury secretarys role in his celebs. We know he had met with the board of governors during the time that they were trying to find a postmaster general so theres a lot of questions about democrats about what role he has played and how much he has talked to dejoy, particularly about the changes that were made. Dejoy has said hes not spoken to the president about these changes, but questions still remain on that front. No on friday dejoy did make clear, he distanced himself from the president saying hes a supporter of voting by mail. He says its something that every american should do. The Postal Service has said that it is ready. It is capable to to handle the influx of mailin ballots this year sending out this tweet. If all americans vote by mail this year, 330 million ballots over the course of the election would be only 75 of what we deliver in one single day, but, of course, jim, that doesnt provide a lot of reassurance when were in the situation now that there are still big delays of days and even weeks of people getting their medicine and getting other important items that they need. That is expected to be a big focus also at todays hearing. Yeah, and delayed mailin ballots, many were rejected in the primaries, the concern what would happen in a bigger turnout in the general election. Pamela brown, thank very much. Meanwhile, President Trump continues to sow doubt and push falsehoods. Over the weekend twitter labeled one of the president s tweets as, quote, violating the twitter rules about civic and election integrity. Lets go to the white house now and jens john harwood is there. Listen, this is a consistent message from this president , i shouldnt say accident because theres contradiction in there, right . All mailin voting bad but not say in republicanled florida or arizona. Whats happening here . I mean, even as you have the postmaster general thats going to go on the hill in a couple of minutes here and say voting by mail is just fine. Reporter whats happening here is a president who is losing in his reelection bid at this stage a couple of months before election day is trying to throw the cards up in the air and suggest that the balloting is not going to be fair. Hes put louis dejoy in a bad situation as well because, you know, louis dejoy said in the Senate Hearing the other day that these were longstanding processes for changing the Postal Service to make it more efficient over time and to curb some of the financial losses that it suffered, but when the president lays over that his own public statements that the 25 billion democrats wanted to add that he can withhold that money, that they wouldnt be able to process the mailin balloting just taints everything that dejoy is trying to do. In addition to trying to claim that the drop boxes were not secure and safe which, of course, history has shown that they are, many states have been routinely using them for years, the question is how much additional use they get this year, but president even cited fear of covid, the pandemic that he has failed to control as suggesting they are not safe, saying they are not covid sanitized. That real was an extraordinary statement by the president and, of course, twitter has has flagged that tweet. And i had a republican member of that Committee Just a moment ago that could not provide any evidence of the fraud that they claim. John harwood, thanks very much. Lets go to the hearing now. They are just gaveling in there. To the latest guidance from the house attending physician all individuals attending this hearing in person must wear a face mask. Members who are not wearing a face mask will not be recognized. Let me also make a few reminders for those members appearing in person. You will see members and witnesses appearing remotely. On the monitor in front of you when you are speaking in what is known in web x as active speaker view. A timer is visible in the room directly in front of you. For members appearing remotely, i know you are all familiar with web x by now, but let me remind everyone of a few points. First, you will be able to see each person speaking during the hearing whether they are in person or remote as long as you have your web x set to active speaker view. If you have any questions about this, please Contact Committee staff immediately. Second, we have a timer that should be visible on your screen when you are in the active speaker with thumbnail. Members who wish to pin the timer to their screens should Contact Committee staff for assistance. Third, the house rules require that we see you so please have your cameras turned on at all times. Fourth, members appearing remotely who are not recognized should remain muted to minimize background noise and feedback. Fifth, i will recognize members verbally, but members retain their right to seek recognition verbally in regular order. Members will be recognized in seniority order for questions. Lastly, if you want to be recognized outside of regular order, you may identify that in several waid. You may use the chat function to send a request. You may send an email to the majority staff or unmute your mic to seek recognition. Obviously, we do not want people talking over each other, so my preference is that members use the chat function or email to facilitate formal verbal recognition. Committee staff will ensure that i am made aware of your request, and i will recognize you. We will begin the hearing in just a moment when they tell me they are ready to begin the livestream. Chairwoman ma lone, point of order. You mentioned the mask. You dont have one on. Well, im talking. If youre talking, you can have your mask off. I thought said during questions you had to have it on. Well, to come in the room you have to have the mask on, but as you talk, as you and i know, its very hard to talk with the mask on so it can be removed when youre asking questions. We lost the sound . The committee will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a recess of the committee at any time. Without objection the gentle woman from North Carolina, miss adams, as well as the gentleman from illinois, mr. Quigley, will be permitted to join the committee and be recognized for questioning the witnesses. In addition, the gentleman from North Carolina, mr. Walker, will be recognized at the proper time to introduce his constituent. I now recognize myself for an Opening Statement. Good morning. I would like to welcome postmaster general louis dejoy and the chairman of the postal board of governors Robert Duncan to this oversight hearing, and i thank you all for being here. In all of our districts, we are hearing from constituents about significant delays in the delivery of mail, medicines, food and other supplies. These delays are especially concerning and potentially lifethreatening during the drives crisis. These are not isolated complaints. They are widespread. Our offices have been receiving thousands of calls and emails about the detrimental effects these delays are having on our veterans, seniors, Small Businesses and families across the country. When we asked postal leaders about these delays, they downplayed them. They dismissed them as temporary. They discounted them as minor, unintended consequences of reforms being put in place, but then we saw National Head lyons describing these delays in much more detail. I have a document here that it has headlines from almost every state in the country talking about these delays. For example, in my home state of new york, i quote, mail is delayed five to six days in new york city, poetal Workers Union says, end quote. In kentucky, Ranking Member combers home state, quote, Postal Services costcutting is frustrating kentuckians and raising election concerns, end quote. And in california, the home state of our vice chairman mr. Gomez, quote, like armageddon, rotten food, dead animals and chaos at postal facilities admit cutbacks, end quote. This list goes on and on. Last friday when mr. Dejoy was confronted in the senate with these widespread reports, he said he felt bad about what he called a dip in service, but then after mr. Dejoys testimony in the senate, we obtained an internal Postal Service document entitled pmg briefing. This is a presentation prepared directly for the postmaster general dated almost two weeks ago, august 12th. According to this document, these delays are not just a dip. This document warns the postmaster general of significant and widespread drops across the board. In first class marketing, periodicals and other categories. This document shows these delays are not a myth or Conspiracy Theory, as some of my colleagues have argued. These team declines did not start in april or may when the corona virus hit us but in july when mr. Dejoy came on board and began making the changes. Our entire country is experiencing these delays as a result of mr. Dejoys actions as much as his decision to restrict the number of trips from processing plants to delivery units. Perhaps mr. Dejoy thought his sweeping changes would not cause any delays. In my opinion that would be incompetence at best or perhaps this was intentional. Maybe mr. Dejoy was warned that his changes would cause delays but he disregarded those warnings. That would be extremely reckless in the middle of a Global Pandemic with less than three months before an important election, or perhaps there is a far simpler explanation. Perhaps mr. Dejoy is just doing exactly what President Trump said he wanted on national television, using the blocking of funds to justify sweeping changes to hobble mailin voting. All of these options are bad, but when you install someone as postmaster general after he donates millions of dollars to your campaign, when he rushes to make changes without conducting adequate analysis and when he withholds Key Information from congress and doesnt level with us when people begin to ask what in the world is going on, given all of this its not surprising that the Postal Service Inspector General has already opened an investigation into mr. D joys controversial changes. We will be asking mr. Dejoy some hard questions today. We will also be asking mr. Duncan as chairman of the board about his own role in choosing mr. Dejoy as postmaster general about his own role in vetting mr. Dejoy for conflicts of interest, including mr. Dejoys ownership of stock in major Postal Service competitors and mr. Duncans own role in allowing these delays to happen under his watch. Whatever the cause of these massive delays, the American People want to go back to the way things were. Threat dont want these changes. They want them reversed. They dont want anyone messing with the post office, and they certainly dont want it politicized. They want to have confidence that their mail, their medicine, their ballots will be delivered on time. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses, and i now recognize the distinguished Ranking Member mr. Comber for an Opening Statement. Well, thank you, theirwoman maloney, i appreciate you calling this hearing today on the United States Postal Service even though it would have been nice to do so before we actually voted only the bill saturday. We all agree the Postal Service needs to be reformed. We all want the postal system to be as official as possible to ensure americans receive their prescriptions on time, Small Businesses thrive and mailin ballots are delivered in a timely fashion but meaningful report is going to take bipartisanship, something weve seen very little of in the last few days. Democrats fabricated a Conspiracy Theory about the Postal Service and passed a bill before hearing from you, mr. Dejoy. The bill had no prior action to vet the bills no, hearings, no markup. Because of this rushed process, the bill was significantly amended by the democrats before it went to the rules committee. It then proceeded to the house floor under a process that prevented any amendments to the bill. There was no republican input, not at any step in the process. Just this morning we have learned that the u. S. Postal service opposes the bill that you all passed saturday. They read the bill and realized that it ties their hands and will make it harder and more expensive to deliver the mail. At least this legislation is consistent with the obama biden years at the Postal Service, more delays, more financial losses. This chain of events show democrats are not serious about meaningful reform. The president does not support the bill. The postal bill does not support the bill and the senate will likely not take up the bill. This is a political stunt. During saturdays debate chairwoman maloneyin veiled a 60page powerpoint deck she received overnight from an apparent whistleblower. Madam chair, i dont need to remind you that your and adam schiffs record with whistleblowers is less than stellar. The deck is dated august 12th proving it played no role in the creation of your bill which was unveiled the day before. The deck contains delivery performance data updated since the u. S. Post al Services Third quarter report. It shows some delays in july and august. Im very interested to hear from mr. Dejoy today about what he has learned about the causes of these delays, how much of an effect is the ongoing pandemic and increasing employee sick leave having on the u. S. Postal Service Delivery of performance and how does this compare to other temporary growing pains to make the Postal Service more efficient and selfsufficient. Im interested to hear mr. Dejoys responses because i do not know the answer to those questions. I dont believe the chairwoman does either. This is why ive repeatedly said, madam chairwoman, that this committee is doing things backwards. When we make policy, its our job to understand why something is happening, how would you find out why . You would have a hearing on the topic with the postmaster general. When would you have this hearing . Certainly before you passed a bill. Returning to today, let me say that postal issues are something that ive long heard about, a great deal in my rural district. For example, i distinctly remember when the obama biden administration, a mail facility in paducah was closed resulting in letters that once took a day to get from point a to point b now taking three or four and heard from a grandmother who spent her entire career cass a Rural Mail Carrier and hearts and sympathies go out to our postal families who have lost loved ones during this pandemic. As her grandson and the congressman representing the First District of kentucky and as the Ranking Member of this committee i want to see the Postal Service return to being a viable institution, but im disappointed the a the hysterical frenzy whipped up around this issue by my colleagues on the left and my friends in the media. Lets look at the most often repeated claims again. Does the post office receive a bailout in order to survive through november . Mail volume has declined and Package Delivery shot through the roof. Increasing uspa revenue by 1. 5 billion. It has nearly 15 billion cash on hand and can operate until at least august of 2021. Next question, is the postmaster general sabotaging the election but removing blue postal boxes and mail sorting machines . No. The Postal Service has more than adequate capacity to handle the vote by mail. If everybody in the u. S. Requests and sends their ballots via mail that is still less than one days average volume. The the blue boxes and mail sorters were both components of longstanding programs in response to significant reduction in mail volume. 33 reduction over the past 15 years. For reference, under president obama approximately 12 n. O. W. Blue mailboxes were removed and we didnt hear one word from the other side when he did that. The mail orders sorters were sitting idle taking up floor space for more productive activities. Is the postal telling states they wont be able to deliver ballots on time . No. What the Postal Service is doing and has for years is trying to warn states that the vote by mail laws dont take into account what the Postal Service can and cannot do. Uspa can treat ballots as first class mail but cannot break the laws of time and space. The letters that democrats characterize as threats and propaganda create weeks of uncertainty and confusion such as what happened very recently with chairwoman maloneys race and the charges about overtime, those came from an effort to reduce billions of dollars in overtime and extra truck trips that the postal trips spends every year. If overtime and extra truck trips are normal or a normal everyday part of your Business Operations it means something is wrong and youve got to fix it. On friday before the Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing mr. Dejoy acknowledged the recent dip in service. He took responsibility for this performance lapse. The logical step is to understand why this happened and come up with a plan. Even though your bill would prevent that, madam chairwoman, i hope today helps in that process. I yield back. I thank the gentleman for his statement, and i ask unanimous consent to place in the record the Service Performance measurement postmaster general briefing, an official report from the post office, data, research, facts, and in this report the facts speak for themselves, and they show that under the first two months of the postmaster generals work the service fellini where from 6 to 10 in all the major categories. My bill merely funds the post office and returns it back to the way it was so that the services can get the mail out to the people during a pandemic and before a very important election. After the pandemic, we can revisit and have other statements and work go forward, but lets not dismantle the services to the American People, the veterans, the seniors, people deserving to get their mail in a timely way and most districts are having people calling frantically where is my mail . Where is my medications . So facts speak for themselves. Im placing this into the record. I now recognize the distinguished chairman of the subcommittee of Government Operations who has done a great deal of work in this area, is mr. Connolly, for an Opening Statement. Thank you, madam chairwoman, and thank you for your leadership. I was prout to cosponsor your bill that passed the house with 26 republicans showing the courage to address an emergency with respect to the most esteemed institution of government in america. We have an obligation constitutionally to ensure that something thats been part of the American Fabric since 1775 has a future. The Postal Service is not only fighting for its economic survival, its fighting to maintain is 20 years of professional, professional service, rid of rotten patronage systems that served elected officials and not those who rely on mail every day. Were here today to save the Postal Service. We have in front of us a newly appointed postmaster general and the chairman of the board of governors that selected him for that post. We have a pmg who six weeks into the complex and aweinspiring new job in the midst of a Global Pandemic and just weeks before a consequential National Election where the postal service will play an unprecedented role decides to announce a sweeping reorganization that he admits could slow down mail and will undoubtedly infuse uncertainty and confusion throughout the Postal Service and into our neighborhoods all across america. He announces these and other abysmally unsupported changes without engaging staff, unions, trade organizations, mailers, mail recipients or congress. In fact, congress was told mr. Dejoy did not yet feel prepared to respond to any questions we might have for him. Yet he felt confident enough to freeze overtime, delay mail delivery and announce sweeping reorganizations, and mr. Duncan, congratulations on being the rubber stamp. The Postal Service board of governors is required by law to represent the public interests, not the president , not the Political Party or not even even the postmaster general. The Postal Service is the foundation for a 1. 7 trillion mailing industry that employs another 7. 5 Million People but at the turn of the last century the u. S. Post office was nothing more than 77,000 patronage positions rife with gross incompetence and often embezzlement of funds. It was Rural America that used its political voice at that time to professionalize the paufsz. Instead of traveling miles to the closest general store to pick up mail from a sycophantic political hack, rural residents lobbied congress en masse for rural free delivery, an innovation that brought mail delivery to even the most distant of homes and businesses. The massive grass roots lobby effort brought those with acumen and expertise into the post office and refocused political leaders and what they were elected to do, serve the people, not their political parties. As a nation the people transformed the Postal Service the post office into the Postal Service. This History Lesson resonates today. Yet another reckoning for this country and the Postal Service. Here again the people of the nation have stood up loudly and consistently to condition dem attempts to turn a crown jewel of our federal government by far the most trusted agency among the hundreds that serve this nation into a spoiled systems honey pot. We cannot and must not let that happen. During this pandemic the Postal Service is a lifeline to the delivery of lifesaving prescription medications, medical equipment, food and pantry staples, stimulus checks to pay rent and utility bills, census forms and even simply coupons to help struggling families stay out of poverty. What leader would think that even the possibility of slowing down pail in a time such as this is a good idea. What leader would take steps to freeze overtime for a workforce literally risk its life every day to deliver mail to the people of this nation . 40,000 postal workers have contracted covid19 or been quarantined because of it, 40,000. As the new pmg, mr. Dejoy has recklessly cut hours and delayed delivery times in the pursuit of operational efficiencies. Is never once asked congress for help despite a team of members ready to provide financial and other support. The chairwoman and i, along with a collection of hundreds of members, have been fighting to provide the Postal Service with 75 billion in support to pay overtime and hazard costs to the dedicated workforce to invest in a modernized and green postal fleet that doesnt explode, to pay for Information Technology investments that can streamline communications from trucks and planes that are running late with important crosscounty or International Mail deliveries. Mr. Dejoy and mr. Duncan have failed to work with congress to get then acted. Thus far the Passenger Service Airline Industry has received 25 billion in revenue stabilization. The Postal Service, not a dime. On august 18th the pmg announced he would put a hold on some of these sweeping operational changes, but his announcement did not commit to reverting the cuts to service and capacity already made. It did not include an agenda to support election mail that demonstrates a commitment to helping the Postal Service fulfill its historic role in the upcoming election and the pmg is still not east coasting for the additional funding for the Postal Service despite the fact that the republican controlled trumpappointed board of governors unanimously called for that package. Not a democratic idea, a republicandominated board unanimously recommendingterm the reason organizational and operational changes mr. Dejoy has made has resulted in delivery delays across the country as the chairwoman just showed. Thats not our data. Thats yours, mr. Postmaster general. These delays have real impacts on real lives with real consequences, most devastatingly the damage the Postal Services credibility in a very brief time. Congratulations, mr. Dejoy, an esteemed institution that now is in doubt in the American Publics mind. I applaud my colleagues in the house for passing the delivery for america act bill because we need to act now. We need to reverse this. We need to reassure the American Public that they will get their mail on time and that their ballots will get there on time and be counted. This is about the future of our democratic institutions. This is the future about the most important election in my lifetime. Thats whats at stake today. I yield back. I thank the madam chair. Yes. Just i would like to make a point that you didnt note fay our committee that mr. Connolly as ranking or as chairman of the subcommittee would be delivering opening remarks. Thats another example of of this rushed process, but i would like to ask that our Ranking Member mr. Connollys subcommittee also be allowed to deliver opening remarks. Absolutely. The staff told me they reached out to you and your staff. Its general that the subcommittee that has the jurisdiction should speak on both sides. I have in my notes that m mr. Heiss, now the Ranking Member on the subcommittee of operations will also be given an Opening Statement and i was told they did reach out. In the future i will personally call you myself to make sure it gets to you. Thank you. I was told by staff they talked to your staff, that they had reached out to you. If that did not get to you, then i apologize. Ill personally call you every time, but it is usual lit standard that we make an Opening Statement and the subcommittee with the jurisdiction makes an Opening Statement. I agree, and i appreciate the chairwoman doing that. Thats, again, important why we need to be prepared and not rush things like we have this postal reform bill. Madam chairwoman. Yes, mr. Connolly. If i can come to your defense. It has been your practice as chairwoman that when it is the jurisdiction of a subcommittee, you always always allowed the subcommittee chair and the Ranking Member to have Opening Statements. Thats practice. Its not something you sprung on us today, and and i i can think of at least four examples, mr. Rasmus is one and its actually the practice of the commit deunder chairwoman maloney to do just that. And madam chair, if i may, i agree that its practice. We just werent notified and it wasnt on the agenda item that that we received, but we appreciate that and mr. Heiss, its my understanding is prepared to deliver an impromptu Opening Statement. Okay. First of all, i want to thank mr. Connolly for pointing that out, and also pointing out the double standard that businesses such as the airlines and others are receiving federal aid in the heroes package and the covid relief package, but the Vital Services from our post office that so many people depend on, a lifeline to americans across america, they deserve to be funded, too. I now recognize the distinguished subcommittee chairman mr. Heiss for Government Operations for an Opening Statement, and you are recognized, mr. Heiss. Thank you, madam chair. I appreciate, that and, yes, we were not notified of this, but im happy to take a few moments. Again, here we are having a hearing after a vote. I think this is absolutely disgusting. Certainly we have had many votes without bothering to have a hearing, but i dont ever recall having a vote to socalled fix something and then have the hearing afterwards. This is unprecedented, and, again, to me, i believe its a example of political malpractice on the side of the democrats. We are here to talk about the Postal Service, and madam chair, im glad that you brought up the heroes act because in itself, in the heroes act i believe is the unveiling of what the democrats are really trying to do, and that is themselves to fraudulently influence the upcoming election. In the heroes act is a requirement for universal mailin ballots. In the heroes act is a requirement that states cannot be involved in requiring voter i. D. , and so were going to have tens of millions of ballots sent out all across the country to many people who perhaps are deceased, to people who have moved, to people who knows who they are and states are not going to be able to have any voter i. D. If the democrats have their way, and they are going to have the ballot harvesting take place. This is this is whats at stake, and i agree with chairman connolly saying that this is the most important election. This is what is at stake, andful democrats have their way in this election it will be filled with fraud. It will be filled with confusion. The it will be filled with lawsuits because thats what is in the heroes act to produce. If the democrats have their way and thankfully that bill is not going anywhere, any further than the bill that was passed saturday before the hearing. Then we can talk about delays at the usps. Well, we havent even had hearings on the usps since i believe it was april of 2019 and all of a sudden were called in for an emergency over this whole thing. We had a briefing in april of this year, not a hearing, it was a briefing, and the purpose of that briefing was to discuss the delays at the Postal Service due to covid19, and, yes, there have been delays, and, yes, there are thousands of uspa workers who are not showing up for work due to covid19. Are we surprised that there are any delays . Of course not. We had a briefing to discuss that just a couple of months ago. The postmaster general has nothing to do with covid19, had nothing to do with it coming nor does he have anything to do with thousands of his workers not showing up. We also have cities that are rioting. Of course, there are delays in many of those cities, be it minneapolis or portland or chicago or l. A. Or where ever it may be. The fact of the matter is the bailout that passed on saturday in the house of representatives is pointless. It refuses the opportunity to have any reforms, and so we have a Postal Service right now that has 14 billion cash on hand, another 10 billion available to them with the treasury and they cant even get access to the 10 billion because they have too much money cash on hand, and yet we pass a bill for another 25 billion, and in that bill we disallow them from making any changes. It doesnt matter how much money we keep throwing at the Postal Service if we dont allow for reform to take place which is what is desperately needed. So with that i do look forward to this hearing going forward. I fully anticipate a lot of political theater from my friends on the opposite side of the aisle. I do anticipate the continued attempt to portray a conspiracy that does not exist when in fact it is their own party that i believe are fully committed, based upon the heroes act and other comments, to influence this upcoming election using fraudulent methods, and with that, madam chair, i will yield back and i appreciate you giving me the opportunity to speak. [ inaudible ] i new recognize mark walker to introduce our first witness who is a constituent of congressman walkers. Thank you madam chair, maloney and Ranking Member comer. Its my pleasure to on the postmaster general of the United States, louis dejoy. Since the creation in 2005, the dejoy voss Family Foundation has positively impacted thousands of people, duke university, the cohen Health Center for children and Police Foundations just to name a few. I was actually present when mr. Dejoy was inducted into the hall of fame for the triads Junior Achievement business leaders, the Worlds Largest organization educating k12 students on forecasts literacy and entrepreneurship. Just this past week, i received in the mail the family contribution, the sponsorship of Family Services of the piedmont which serves 18,000 children and adults, many of those battling Domestic Violence issues. Yet maybe the most impressive act by this family is the one established for students from title i schools, the Scholars Program at elon university. You see, ive had the opportunity to meet some of these students who come from some of our most impoverished area. Its not something louis flaunts, just something he does. Throughout his professional career, louis dejoy has garnered a reputation as a genius in the logistical innovation and supply chain field. As the ceo of new breed logistics he took a broken Trucking Company from new york to North Carolina and transformed it into a prominent u. S. Provider in contract logistics creating close to 9,000 jobs. Maybe thats why he was unanimously appointed to the position by the usps bipartisan board of governors. Mr. Dejoy has been on the job about two months, but hes being blamed for implementing Reforms Congress has passed. For example, back in 2006, it wasnt mr. Dejoy who passed the postal accountability and enhancement act it was actually congress. The leading sponsor on the bill, the one with the biggest picture in the room, former chair henry waxman. Today mr. Dejoy will be viciously attacked with prepackaged questions and false accusations, one member even suggesting impeachment. Thats original. How sad is it when the cancel culture has reached the hall of congress. The man sitting before this committee today is not who the democrats have villainized him to be. Hes here today because he supported President Trump and with this congress that makes you a target. Over the past month the dejoys have endured protests outside his home with hundreds of people blocking streets and frightening their neighbors. Sadly in this day and age an Industry Leader with a passion for service can be persecuted in the court of Public Opinion for his apparent political affiliation. As the circus unfolds today, remember that louis dejoy is a communityminded philanthropist, an try leading businessman and most importantly a man with a good heart doing his best to serve of his country. Mr. Dejoy, i want to commend you for being here today. Many of your accusers didnt extend the same courtesy, but unlike the senator from delaware, lets hope they at least know how to mute themselves. Thank you, madam chair, i yield back. Thank you. Our second witness is Robert Duncan who is the chairman of the Postal Services board of governors. He was appointed to the board of governors but President Donald Trump in august of 2018 and his term expires in december of 2025. Please stand and raise your right hands. The do you swear or affirm that the testimony youre about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god . I do. Let the record show that the witnesses affirmed this in affirmative. Without objection, your written statements will be part of the record. With that, mr. Dejoy, you are now recognized for your testimony. Good morning, chairwoman maloney, Ranking Member comer and members of the committee. I am proud to be with you today on behalf of the 630,000 dedicated women and men of the United States Postal Service. On june 15th i became americas 75th postmaster general. Since that time for a variety of reasons there has been a great deal of attention to the Postal Service by our elected officials, the media and the American People. I want to begin by assuring this committee and the American Public that the Postal Service is fully capable and committed to delivering the nations ballots securely and on time. This sacred duty is my number one priority between now and election day. To be clear, we will do everything we can to handle and deliver election mail in a manner consistent with the proven processes and procedures that we have relied responsible for years. Nevertheless, i encourage all americans who choose to vote by mail to request their ballots early and to vote early as a common sense best practice. 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 the cutback on hours at any of our postal 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 nations election mail. Any further assertions by the media or elected officials is furthering a false narrative to the American People. Let me describe the two actions i have taken in 70 days since my appointment. I came to the Postal Service with decades of experience in solving large and complex logistical problems. I plan to use this experience to help lead the operating change required for the Postal Service to grow and embark on a path of sustainability. On the day of my swearingin, the Postal Service Inspector General issued an astonishing report about the scheduled delays and Postal Service transportation and a substantial costs associated with our weaknesses in this fundamental operating principle. Upon review i directed the Postal Service Operations Team to develop and execute on a plan to improve our adherence to the transportation schedule of our over 40,000 trips a day. We have accomplished this goal. As our ontime departures are approaching 98 and wasteful extra trips are down by over 70 . While we have had temporary service decline which should not have happened, we are fixing this. In fact, last week service improved across all major mail and package categories, and i am laser focused on improving service for the American Public. The second of two changes i made as postmaster general sin stalling a new organizational reporting structure to better align talent and resources to instill greater accountability for performance and to focus the organization on service and growth. These two changes creating a new ontime Transportation Network and designing an engaged organizational struck steuer will be the catalyst for the significant improvements in cost, significance and growth that i plan for this vital american institution. Madam chairwoman, the men and women have demonstrate extraordinary commitment to Service Throughout the covid19 pandemic. In every community in america we continue to work to keep our employees and customer safe as we fulfill our essential role of delivering medications, checks and Financial Information that the public depends on. Since the beginning of the pandemic theres been a public outpouring of support for our postal employees as they perform their essential Service Throughout the nation. This is a welldeserved testament to their dedication. Chairwoman maloney, ranking mom comer, i hope we can agree the financial state of the Postal Service is unacceptable a and needs to be fixed. I look forward to work with this committee and the stakeholders to restore the Financial Health of the United States Postal Service and to improve the way that we serve the American Public. This concludes my remarks, and i within any questions that you and the committee may have. Thank you. Thank you very much for your testimony, and we will now recognize chairman duncan. You are now recognized for your testimony, and he will be appearing remote. Chairman duncan, you are not recognized. Thank you. Chairwoman ma lake okeechobee, Ranking Member c ho mer, members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to speak. My name is mike duncan and for the past two years ive had the honor of serving as the chairman of the United States postal board of governors. Throughout my life ive looked for ways to strengthen institutions important to American Communities and thats why i spent five years on the Tennessee Valley board and why ive served on numerous boards and commissions in kentucky at the federal level. When i accepted this position, i did so because of my admiration for the United States Postal Service and its Public Service mission. I spent my life in rural appalachia and i know how important the Postal Service is in communities like mine and i know the Postal Service provides jobs to more than 630,000 americans which at one time included my own grandfather who delivered mail by horseback in eastern tennessee. Since ive been on the board ive made it a point to go on the road and meet postal workers and speak directly with our customers and union leaders. Those conversations have only deepened my understanding for and of the Postal Service. Serving on the board of governors of this institution is a significant responsibility. The governors by statute represent the public interest. That many means ill always remember a special role in our nation and means ill never forget the challenge that are putting us as risk and should come no surprise. In each of those communications the Business Model is broken. The last fall the postmaster general notified the board of her impending retirement and the board immediately recognize that had we would be faced with the most important decision we would make as governors, the selection of a new postmaster general. The board agreed that the Postal Service would benefit from a transformational leader, one who could help us build on the inherent strengths and confront it longstanding challenges. The Postal Service is an amazing institution, and we can do a lot to make it better, but were unable to fix our broken Business Model or control our own process without the help of congress and the postal regulatory commission. What we can do is increase our efficiency and cut down on unnecessary expenses. We can also focus on marketability and modernization while reducing some expenses. Business as usual is not an option. Its for these reasons that after an organized, deliberate and thorough search process the board selected louis dejoy to serve of as our postmaster general of the United States. Hes the fifth postmaster general since 197 is to join the institution from the private sector, and we believe the private sector experience that he has will be an asset to identify ways to improve the Postal Service. In addition, mr. Dejoy has decades of experience in improving and managing sophisticated logistics chains, fortune 100 companies. He has had a major contractor for the u. S. Postal service for more than 25 years. He has a deep knowledge about the institution and how it can be strength gend. Like the postmaster general, the board has confidence in the Postal Services ability to perform for the American People in this election season. Five years from now the United States will celebrate the 250th anniversary of american Postal Service. Throughout our nation owes history this institution has delivered for the American People. Now we have a sacred responsibility to preserve, defend and strengthen this organization for generations to come. Thank you for your time. I appreciate your opportunity and look forward to your questions. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. I now recognize may selffor questioning. The mr. Dejoy, we have all been flooded with concerns and complaints from our constituents about the delay in the mail, and in the vote on my bill delivering for america on saturday, 26 republicans voted with us, and they expressed the same concerns. People depend on their mail for their medications, for business, for keeping in touch with their families. Its critically important, and weve seen headlines across this nation from many, many states, headlines, major news from our states about the delay in the mail. Its been said its a Major Institution in our country. People depend on it, and over the weekend we obtained this internal document thats dated less than two weeks ago on august 12th and its entitled Service Performance measurement for the pmg postmaster general briefing. Now, your office already confirmed to my office that this document is authentic, so lets go through a little bit of it now. This document clearly shows major degradations across the board beginning in july when you started your changes. Here is the document for first class mail, and overall it is down an astonishing 8. 1 from the baseline before your changes for the past two months, beginning in july. Now the second one, the next slide, is the marketing mail, and that is down a stunning 8. 42 . Now the next and its on the wall where you can see it better, the next periodicals, and that is down almost 10 , down 9. 57 . So mr. Dejoy, you and your aides have repeatedly downplayed these delays. You just downplayed it in your testimony, but this is just a disaster for the people who need their mail, dont you agree . Would you turn on your mic. We cant hear you. Thank you. We are very concerned with the deterioration in service and are working very diligently. In fact, were seeing a big recovery this week, and, in fact, that report i requested that report be put together. Oddly enough we didnt have measurement briefings at the executive level like this before my arrival with the whole executive team that was involved in looking at what the underlying circumstances were, and were focusing on fixing it. Weve seen were starting to see a nice recovery, and we will have it back to my goal is to get it, you know, to a we will not meet the metrics before with this change, this fundamental change. We have a real good shot of getting to the stated metrix that we are supposed governed by. Well, you just testified that youve been on the job 70 days. Ummium. So this is essentially your report card for that period of time. If any other ceo had this kind of plummeting record in his first two months on the job, i cant imagine why he would be kept on. Thats an unfair accusation. May i continue. When you testified on friday, senators asked you over and over about the status of these delays. They also asked you to produce analysis about the negative impacts of your changes. It would have been easy to mention to the senators that this document existed. Could you have said as a matter of fact, senator, i just received a detailed briefing and, unfortunately, the data shows major delays in nearly all categories, but you didnt do that. You dismissed these nationwide delays as, quote, a dip, and you refused to turn over any analysis. So my question is why didnt you disclose this document and any analysis to the senate when you had it and they were asking for it . They asked me for it on friday. They asked me for an analysis on my decision. Of the delays. Of the delays. I watched the testimony. They want and analysis for all the delays. Theres a lot of reasons for delays besides the action that i took to run your trucks on time. There are other reasons for the delays in the nation. Well, would i say running trucks on time would probably increase delivery, but for some reason it backed it up five to six days. Oddly enough. So reported. But mr. Dejoy, on august 14th this committee sent you a tenpage letter along with the chairs of Ranking Members of three other committees, and we asked you to produce all communications, and im quoting from the letter, all communications, evaluations, assessments or reports regarding mail left behind or delayed as a result of these new policies that you instituted, end quote. We asked for these documents by friday, and on friday night you did produce some documents to us, but you did not produce this one, and so my question is why did you leave this important internal document from the postal professionals that was delivered to you and briefed to you two days before the Senate Hearing . Why did you leave it out . Im not familiar with the request in total or how we supported it. Im sure the staff answered the questions as they were asked, and let me just for the record clear up i did that is not a policy change. This is a request that we run our 40,000 trucks a day on schedule and your intuition is right. Would you think that the mail would move faster and it did, a good portion of it moved faster, all right, and weve also at this was sitting there looking at a report that that talked somewhere between 1 billion and 3 billion worth of costs wasted on our truck trips being out of schedule. It was an easy request that i spoke with every Senior Executive in the organization my time is limited, and ill dm im concerned why we didnt receive any of this
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