Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Hallie Jackson 20200824

Postmaster general louis dejoy, with mailin ballots front and center. You see it on your screen, these duelling events, well have them live this hour. I want to get to our reporters, monica alba covering the rnc in charlotte, Garrett Haake on capitol hill following that postal hearing. Fill us in on what you expect today at the roll call and the game plan for this week. Reporter this may be the most traditional part of any convention in the last two weeks and certainly unconventional year. Youre going to have actual delegates gathering in person, 336 or so of them in the Convention Center just behind me, and theyll be undergoing that roll call just momentarily. Something youre not going to see because of the coronavirus pandemic is what you would have in terms of a debate over a platform. The rnc saying theyll adopt the 2016 version, and simply by nature of not being able to have as many people as they wanted, theyre forgoing that. They did enact a resolution signaling they embrace everything in the president s agenda, officially going toward that transformation of the republican party, really becoming the party of trump. As for what well see on the ground, the president will be in the state, so will the Vice President , both of them in charlotte, will they make an appearance . The white house is being cagey on the details. Then the action shifts later to washington, d. C. Tonight where you have the main speeches in primetime, coming from the melon auditorium, tim scott, congressman matt gates, nikki haley and the president s eldest son donald trump jr. Speaking tonight as well. We kick off the rnc here in charlotte and later in washington where you are. Monica alba, thank you much. I want to get to Garrett Haake on capitol hill. We may see some fireworks where you are which should begin any minute now as we keep an eye on that. Reporter this house hearing for louis dejoy will be a much less comfortable affair for him than was the Senate Hearing that took place on friday. This is the House Oversight committee. It is controlled by democrats who were left wholly unsatisfied by dejoys answers and by his demeanor, quite frankly, from fridays hearing. A lot of House Democrats felt he didnt show his work, he wasnt being transparent about the decisions being made at the post office. And he wasnt providing enough information about how they got to those decisions. Hell be pressed on all of those things today as well as on his blanket statements that he made on friday about the idea that mailin ballots will be taken care of, handled in a first class or better rate, wont be a concern, and his statements there will be no need to restore things like sorting machines that have been taken out of service over the last several weeks during his tenure. He made fairly blanket statements about that, without providing much backup information. House democrats will try to press him again on this, you will have some republicans likely defending him in much the same way we saw at that Senate Hearing. But as you can see on your screen, dejoy is here in person today, this is a hybrid hearing, some members will appear remotely. But hes going to be in the hoss seat, not protected by the Digital Divide of a zoom meeting. Unlike what we saw on friday, youre right, there he is, postmaster general louis dejoy, hes taken a seat in person. Elbow bumping, i cant say who that is from the back, one of the folks inside that hearing room. Senator claire mccaskill, is here with us. Always great to have you on the show. Senator, walk me through the expectation for you at this point and what you think dejoy might do differently here than he did on friday. Well, i dont think hes going to do anything differently. But i do think i hope anyway, you know, one of the biggest problems in the hearings are members who are looking to grab a sound bite for television versus asking focused data driven questions. But i really do think they got to follow up and confront him with the president s lies about mailin balloting not being secure. And mailin balloting being rife with fraud he knows better, all the member of the committee know better, they vote by mail. So i really think that that needs to happen and then further there is lying going on about overtime. The postal workers are saying their overtime is being cut, the mail slowed down. He says no. He may be worried about the trucks being on time, but i think america is worried about the mail being on time. Carolyn maloney, the congresswoman just gavelled the session in to to start it essentially. Youve been writing so much about this, quickly before this gets started. This question of mailin ballots, President Trump slapped with a twitter warning over the weekend for saying things that have no evidence to back it up. What is the truth and what is not here . So, you know, voter fraud does happen, it is exceedingly rare, it is slightly less rare when it comes to vote by mail. But it is by no means as common as President Trump has led us to believe. I think that is just pretty plainly to make the American People less confident in vote by mail. When you it sounds like were getting keyed up here as congresswoman Carolyn Maloney gets this under way. Youve been writing a lot about this. When you look at the way that a postmaster general handled this, you heard senator mccaskill raise some questions he needs to answer, perhaps among them this question of overtime, what is real, what is false, what are you looking for here . You know, im looking for a pretty clear indication of exactly how these ballots will be handled. You heard him say they will be treated as first class mail or better. I would love to hear him standardize that, i would love for the chairman of the committee to ask more specific questions about the exact ways in which these ballots will be differentiated from the rest of the mail. I think the usps has the capacity to do this. It will just require them believing that ballots are far more important than other types of mail. And delivering in very specific ways. Im told that congresswoman maloney is giving a little bit of a sermon on how to do a webex panel. We wont dip into that part since i think everybody who joins us here from their home studios knows, the postmaster general has already said hes going to suspend some of the operations that have been creating concern for a lot of people about this. Do you think that takes the wind out of democrats sails at all here . No, there is still a lot of stuff to get into here. Every Single Member of the board of governors has been appointed by donald trump. There is no one that predates donald trump on the board of governors that hired him. What about this search . Why did he all of a sudden surface and there werent other names that came forward . I think looking at how he got this job, particularly knowing hes a multimillion dollar donor to republicans on capitol hill, and the republican in the white house. And it looks like were just beginning here. Senator, thank you, jessica, thank you. Less lets listen in. To come in the room, you have to have the mask on. But as you talk, as you and i know, it is very hard to talk with the mask on. So it can be removed when youre asking questions or when 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 and the delivery of mail, medicines, food, and other supplies. These delays are especially concerning. And potentially life threatening during the coronavirus 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 Headlines describing these delays in much more detail. I have a document here that lists 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, Postal Workers Union says, end quote. In kentucky, Ranking Member combers home state, quote, Postal Services cost cutting is frustrating kentuckians, and raising election concerns, end quote. In california, the home state of our vice chairman mr. Gomez, quote, like our mcginnen, rotting food, dead animals and chaos at postal facilities amid cutback, end quote. This list goes on and on. Last friday, when mr. Dejoy was confronted in a 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. It is 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. And first class marketing, periodicals, and other categories. This document shows that these delays are not a myth, or Conspiracy Theory, as some of my colleagues have argued. These steep declines did not start in april or may when the corona crisis hit us, but in july, when mr. Dejoy came on board and began making his changes. Our entire country is experiencing these delays as a result of mr. Dejoys actions, such 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 mail in 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, it is not surprising that the Postal Service Inspector General has already opened an investigation into mr. Dejoys 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. Deyejoy ownership of major Postal Service competitors and 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. They 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, chairwoman 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 on the bill saturday. We all agree the Postal Service needs to be reformed to better serve the American People. We all want the Postal Service to be as efficient and effective as possible to ensure americans receive their prescriptions on time, Small Businesses thrive and mailin ballots are delivered in a timely fashion. But meaningful reform is going to take bipartisanship. Something we have seen very little of in the last few days. Democrats fabricated a baseless Conspiracy Theory about the Postal Service and hastily passed a bill saturday, but before hearing from you, mr. Dejoy. The bill had no Prior Committee action, to vet the bill, 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 it ties their hands it 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 Service does not support the bill and the senate will likely not take up the bill. This is a political stunt. During saturdays debate, chairwoman maloney unveiled a 60 page power point deck she just received overnight from an apparent whistleblower. Madam chair, i dont need to remind you 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. It contains delivery performance data, updated since the Third Quarter report, it shows 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 u. S. Postal Service Delivery performance, how does that compare to any temporary growing pains from efforts to make the Postal Service more efficient and selfsufficient. I say im interested to hear mr. Dejoys responses because i do not know the answers to those questions. I dont believe the chairwoman does either. This is why i repeatedly said, madam chairwoman, this committee is doing things backwards. When we make policy, it is our job to understand why something is happening how would you find out why . You would have a hearing on the topic with the post master general. When would you have this hearing . Certainly before you passed a bill. Returning to today, let me say that postal issues are something i long heard about, a great deal in my rural district. For example, i distinctly remember when the obama biden administration, mail facility in paducah was closed, resulting in letters that once took a day to get from point a to point b, taking three to four days now. And also heard a lot about the Postal Service from my grandmother who spent her entire career, 27 years, as a rural mail carrier. My heart and sympathies go out to the Postal Service families who lost loved ones during this pandemic. As her grandson and the congressman representing the area of kentucky, i want the Postal Service to return to being a viable institution. Im disappointed at the hysterical frenzy whipped up on this issue by my colleagues on the left and their friends in the media. Lets look at the most often repeated claims again. Mail volume has declined, but Package Delivery shot through the roof. Increasing usps revenue by 1. 5 billion. It has 15 billion cash on hand, and can operate until at least august of 2021. Next question, is the postmaster general sabotaging the election by removing blue postal boxes and mail sorting machines . No. The Postal Service is more than adequate capacity to handle the vote by mail. If everybody in the u. S. Requests or sends baultz vi s b mail, thats less than one days average volume. 33 reduction over the past 15 years, for reference, under president obama, approximately 12,000 blue mailboxes were removed, and we didnt hear one word from the other side when he did that. The most orders on track to be removed because they were idle, taking up floor space for more productive activities. Is the Postal Service 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 where vote by mail laws dont take into account what the Postal Service can and cannot do. They can treat ballots as first class mail, but they cannot break the laws of time and space. The letters that democrats characterize as threats and propaganda are good faith efforts to prevent weeks of uncertainty and confusion, such as what happened very recently with chairwoman maloneys race. And the charges about evertime, those came from an effort to reduce billions of dollars in overtime and extra truck trips the Postal Service spends every year. If overtime and extra truck trips are normal, or normal everyday part of your business operations, it means something is wrong and you better 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, i hope that 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 fell anywhere 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 deserve 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 on Government Operations, who has done a great deal of work in this area, mr. Connolly, for an Opening Statement. Thank you, madam chairwoman and thank you for your leadership. I was proud 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, institutionally, to ensure that something that has been part of the American Fabric since 1775 has a future. The Postal Service is not only fighting for its economic survival, it is fighting to maintain 120 years of professional, professional service, rid of rotten pat ronnage systems that served elected officials and not on those who relied on the mail every day. We have in front of us a newly appointed postmaster general and chairman of the board of governors that selected him for that post. We have a pmg who six weeks into the complex and awe inspiring 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 undoubted by infuse uncertainty and confusion throughout the Postal Service and into our neighborhoods all across america. He announces these and other 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 interest, not the president , not a political party, or not even the postmaster general. Today the Postal Service employs 650,000 people. It is the foundation for more than 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 pat ronnage positions rife with gross incompetence and embezzlement of funds. It was Rural America that used its political voice at that time to professionalize the post office. Instead of traveling malls to the closest general store to pick up mail from a political hack, rural residents lobbied congress en masse for rural free delivery. And innovation that brought mail delivery to even the most distant of homes and businesses. The massive grassroots lobby effort brought those with acumen and expertise into the post office and focused political leaders on 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 the country and the Postal Service, here again, the people of the nation have stood up loudly, and consistently to condemn attempts to turn a crown jewel of our federal government by far the most trusted agency among the hundreds that served this nation into a spoil systems honey pot. We cannot and must not let that happen. During this pandemic the Postal Service is a lifeline to the delivery of life saving prescription medications, medical equipment, food and pantry staples, stimulus checks to pay rent, utility bills, census forms, and even simply coupons to help struggling families stay out of poverty. What leader would think even the possibility of slowing down mail in a time such as this is a good idea . What leader would take steps to freeze over time, for a workforce risking 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 and delayed delivery times. Hes never once asked congress to 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 mod n modernized and green postal fleet that doesnt explode, to streamline communications from trucks and planes that running late with important cross county or International Mail deliveries. Mr. Dejoy, mr. Duncan failed to work with congress to get this enacted. Thus far, the Passenger Service Airline Industry has received 25 billion in revenue stabilizati 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 reversing 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 lastly the pmg is still not advocating for the additional funding for the Postal Service despite the fact that it the republican controlled trump appointed board of governors unanimously called for that package. Not a democratic idea, a republican dominated board unanimously recommending it. The recent operational and organizational changes, mr. Dejoy made, have resulted in delivery delays across the country as the chairwoman just showed. And those arent our data, thats yours, mr. Postmaster general. These delays have real impacts on real lives with real consequences, most devastati devastatingly, the damage to the Postal Service credibility this a brief time, congratulations, mr. Dejoy. An esteemed institution that now is in doubt in the American Publics mind. I applaud my colleagues 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 you the madam chair yes . Just would like to make a point that you didnt notify our committee that mr. Connolly as ranking as chairman of the subcommittee would be delivering opening remarks. Thats another example 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, it is general that the subcommittee that has the jurisdiction should speak on both sides, i have in my notes that mr. Heist will be now the Ranking Member on the subcommittee of Government Operations, will also be giving an Opening Statement and i was told that they did reach out. And in the future i will personally call you myself and make sure it gets to 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. I will personally call you every time, but it is usually the 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 have always allowed the subcommittee chair and the Ranking Member to have Opening Statements. Thats practice. It is not something you sprung on us today. And i can think of at least four examples, mr. Raskin is one, mr. Route is another, and their Ranking Members. It is actually the practice of the committee under chairwoman maloney to do just that. And madam chair, if i may, i agree that it is practice, we just werent notified and it wasnt on the agenda item that we received, but we appreciate that, and mr. Heist, it is 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, lifeline to americans across america, they deserve to be funded too. I now recognize this distinguished subcommittee chair mr. Heist for Government Operations for an Opening Statement, and youre recognized, mr. Heist. 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 a hearing afterwards. This is unprecedented and, again, to me i believe it is an example of political malpractice on the side of the democrats. We are here to talk about the Postal Service, and madam chair, im glad 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. 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, states are not going to be able to have any voter i. D. If the democrats have their way, and they were going to have the mail the ballot harvesting take place, this is whats this is whats at stake. I agree with chairman connolly, saying that this is most important, like, this is what is at stake. And if the democrats have their way, in this election, it will be filled with fraud, it will be filled with confusion, 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 talk about delays at the usps. Well, we havent even had hearings on the usps since i believe it was april of 2019. And now 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 do to covid19. And, yes, there have been delays and, yes, there are thousands of usps 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. Has 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 is delays in many of those cities, be it minneapolis, portland, chicago, l. A. , wherever 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. So we have a Postal Service 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 for 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, and 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, ill yield back and i appreciate you giving me the opportunity to speak. I now recognize mark walker to introduce our first witness, who is a constituent of congresswomcongres congressman walkers. Thank you. It is my privilege to introduce mr. Louis dejoy, the postmaster general of the United States. Mr. Dejoy has earned the respect of both charitable and business communities. Since its creation in 2005, the dejoy voss Family Foundation has positively impacted thousands of people, duke university, the Cone Health Center for children, Police Foundations to name a few. I was present when mr. Dejoy was inducted into the hall of fame for the triad Junior Achievement business leaders, the Worlds Largest organization educating k to 12 students on Financial 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. Maybe the most impressive act by this family is the one established for students for title 1 schools. The Scholars Program at elon university. I had the opportunity to meet some of these students who come from some of our most impoverished areas. 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. Tdejoy who passed th enhancement act, it was congress. The leading sponsor on this bill, well hes the one with the biggest picture in the room, former chair of this committee, henry waxman. Today, mr. Dejoy will be viciously attacked with questions and false accusations, one member even suggesting impeachment. Thats original. How sad is it when the cancel culture has reached the halls 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 Community Minded philanthropist, an industry leading businessman and most importantly a man with a good heart doing his best to serve his country. Mr. Dejoy, i want to commend you for being here today. Many of your accusers didnt extend the same courtesy. Unlike the senator from delaware, lets hope they know how to mute themselves. Thank you, i yield back. Thank you. Our second witness is Robert Duncan, who is the chairman of the Postal Services board of governors, appointed to the board of governors by President Donald Trump in august of 2018 and his term expires in december of 2025. Please stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god . Let the record show that the witnesses affirmed this in the 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 comber, 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 15 th, 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 upon 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 post 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. And let me describe the two actions i have taken in 70 days sense my appointment. I came to the Postal Service with decades of experience in solving large and complex logistical problems. I planned 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 a day of my swearing in, the Postal Service Inspector General issued an astonishing report about the schedule delays in Postal Service transportation and 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 on time departures approach 98 and wasteful extra trips are down by 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 categories and im laser focused on improving service for the American Public. The second of two changes i made as postmaster general is installing 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 on Time Transportation network and designing an engaged functional organizational structure will be the catalyst for significant improvements in cost, performance and growth that i plan for this vital american institution. Madam chairwoman, the women and men of the Postal Service demonstrated extraordinary commitment to our mission of Service Throughout the covid19 pandemic. In every community in america, we continue to work to keep our employees and customers safe, as we fulfill our essential role in delivering the medications, benefit checks, and Financial Statements the public depends upon. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a public outpouring of support for our postal employees as they perform their essential Service Throughout the nation. This is a well deserved testament to their dedication. Chairwoman maloney, Ranking Member comber, i hope we can agree that the financial state of the Postal Service is unacceptable and needs to be fixed. I look forward to working with you and this committee and our stake holders to restore the Financial Health of the United States Postal Service and to approve the way we serve the American Public. This concludes my remarks and i welcome 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, youre now recognized for your testimony and he will be appearing remote. Chairman duncan, youre now recognized. Thank you. Chairwoman maloney, Ranking Member comber and members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to speak today. My name is mike duncan. For the past two years i had the honor of serving athe chairman of the United States postal board of governors. Throughout my life, ive looked for ways to help and strengthen and support institutions that are important to american communities. Thats why i spent five years on the Tennessee Valley authority board. I served on numerous boards and commissions in kentucky and 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, i know how important the Postal Service is to communities like mine. I know the Postal Service provides important jobs to more than 630,000 americans, which at one time including my own grandfather who delivered mail, by horseback, in east tennessee. Since i joined the board, i made it a point to get on the road, to visit postal facilities, it meet workers, speak directly with our customers, union members, union leaders, these conversations have only deepened my understanding for and of the importance of the Postal Service. Serving on the board of governors of this institution is a significant significant resp. The governors, by statute, represent the public. That means ill also remember the special role in our nation. It means i can never forget the challenges that are putting us at risk. These challenges should come as no surprise to members of this body. On two occasions, ive sent you the Postal Services annual report to congress. In each of those communications, i wrote that, while the Postal Service is broken, itll only cost losses in the coming years. Last fall, postmaster general notified the board of her impending retirement. In response the board recognized wed be faced with the most important decision we would make as governors. The board agreed that the Postal Service would benefit from a transformational leader. One that could help us build upon the apparent strengths and confront its 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 processing 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. It is for these reasons that, after an organized, deliberate process, the board selected louis dejoy to serve as our postmaster of the United States. He is the fifth since 1970 to join the institution from the private sector, and we believe the private sector experience that he has would 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 for fortune 100 companies. As a contractor for the Postal Service for more than 25 years, he has a deep knowledge about the institution and how it can be strengthened. 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 the american Postal Service. Throughout our nations 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 the opportunity and look forward to the questions. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. I now recognize myself for questioning. 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 from 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. T and over the weekend, we obtained this internal document, and it is dated less than two weeks ago, on august 12th. Its entitled, Service Performance measurement for the pmg, postmaster general, briefing. Now, 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. 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 for you to see it better the next periodicals, 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 . The americans 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. In fact, that report, i requested that report be put together. Oddly enough, we didnt have measurement briefings at an executive level like this before my arrival, where the whole executive team was involved in looking at what the underlying circumstances were. Were focused on fixing it. Weve seen a nice were starting to see a nice recovery. We will have it back to my goal is to get it, you know, to a high level. We were not meeting metrics before. With this change, this fundamental change, we have a real good shot of getting to the stated metrics that we are supposedly, you know, governed by. Well, you just testified that youve been on the job 70 days. Mmhmm. 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. You could 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. I of the delays. I watched the testimony. They wanted to know why there were all these delays. Well, theres a lot of reasons for delays, besides just my the action that i took to run trucks on time. There are other reasons for delays in the nation. Well, i would say running trucks on time would probably increase delivery, but for some reason, it backed it up five to six days. I will in the district i represent, they so reported. 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. 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, how we supported it. Im sure the staff answered the questions as they were asked. And let me just, for the record, clear up. That is not a policy change. That is a request that we run our 40,000 trucks a day on schedule. Your intuition is right. You would think that the mail moved faster, and it did, a good portion of it moved faster. All right. We also i was sitlingiting lg at a report, anywhere up to 3 billion of cost 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 my t