Cabinet and by the president himself. De joy testified that hes committed to processing all mailin in ballots as first class mail promising 95 were will be delivered in one to three days. He said he would pause changes to the post office but these were sorting machines removed. He said there are no plans to put those machines back into service. Pamela brown joins me now to talk about this. And pamela, dejoy tried to make it clear that the u. S. Postal service is prepared to handle this massive volume, tens of millions of mailin ballots and that all americans, he said, should be allowed to vote by mail. Reporter right. Very early on in this virtual hearing today, jake, louis dejoy, the post master general, seemed to want to distance himself from President Trump who you pointed out has railed against mailin voting, rather. Dejoy in contrast assured lawmakers that American People should have faith in the system, that hes a supporter of mailin voting and something that he does himself and something the person public should be able to do. Here is what he said during that hearing. I voted by mail for a number of years. The Postal Service will deliver every ballot and process every ballot in time that it receives. I think the American Public should be able to vote by mail and the Postal Service will support. Reporter and dejoy also made the case that election mail will be prioritized and this is important because cnn had obtained documents, jake, showing that the Postal Service wanted to make a change in election mail and wanted states to pay for first class mail which is expensive and a change from a year past and so that election mail will be placed in with the rest of the mail which is processed more slowly. But today dejoy made clear that that would not be happening. That, in fact, election mail will be treated as first class mail. And pamela, dejoy was asked whether he had spoken with members of the administration, including President Trump, about any proposed changes. What did he have to say about that . Reporter that is right. One of the Big Questions from democrats, that he was in this role to sabotage election mailin voting but dejoy said he had not spoken with the president about the Postal Service outside of a congratulatory meeting they had. But he never talked about the controversial changes that the Postal Service was implement and said he didnt talk to mark meadows the president s chief of staff about the changes. It was squishier when it wake to secretary mnuchin. He didnt get into the details of the changes he was making. Packella brown, thank you so much. Joining me to discuss is raja krishnonoorthi. Hell be questioning dejoy at the hearing on monday. Congressman, thanks for joining us. So dejoy said that ballots will be first class mail and that no further changes will take place before election date. Take a listen to part of what he said. There has been no changes in any policies with regard to election mail for the 2020 election. I want to assure this committee and the American Public that the Postal Service is fully capable and committed to delivering the nations election mail securely and on time. So congressman, based on what you heard today, are you satisfied that the Postal Service is doing all it can to facilitate this election . Absolutely not. The fact that he would not kbhit commit to reversing the changes or the damages already done is testament to the fact that we cant take him at his word fully. For instance, there are hundreds of mail sorting machines that have been decommissioned, some people claim that some of them have been destroyed. We want to know where they are and whether he will commit to putting them back in place. Same with the blue mailboxes. Hundreds and hundreds have been removed in his short tenure of a couple of months being post master general. Again, le not commit to putting those back. And with regard to election mail, you know, there was some policy change made and that is why your reporter found that documentation, wed like reassurance that the policy change was reversed and not only the ballots will receive first class mail status, but the applications for the ballots do as well. Which as you know on most local election authorities are required before ballot in the first place. You broke up. Just to clarify. Youre saying not just the ballots first class but the applications for ballots to receive first class. You had a little glitch there. So let me ask you. Dejoy insisted that mailboxes have been removed in past election years. He also said that none of the proposed post Office Closures were political in nature. Take a listen. I confirm post Office Closures was not a directive i gave. That was around before i got in. It is a process to that. When i found out about it, and it had the reaction that we did, i suspended that until after the election. What is your response to that, congressman . Well, then put the mailboxes back. Put the mail sorting machines back. And also, very importantly, you know, changes were made with regard to overtime rules, such that Service Levels have not been restored, jake. First class mail has been left on the dock floors, on loading room floors, things that never happen in the past. I have received 1,612 calls, emails and letters from my constituents who are outraged not only that the vote has been interfered with or likely be interfered with if changes persist, but theyre not receiving their medications, they havent been receiving payments and parcels or Social Security checks. I mean, this is a devastating set of changes that have been made and nobody is tolerating it. Obviously any of this slowdowns are horrible and need to be fixed. Dejoy did say in his testimony today that the changes that are being made in terms of post office mailboxes being removed and such are meant to improve the service to the American People. And you know that it has happened in the past that mailboxes have been removed. Sure. You can ask my constituents whether they feel that service has improved. And on top of the fact that theyre not going to say that it is approved. It is actually deteriorated rapidly. The president just a couple of weeks ago given points for candor told us what hes trying to do with the usps, which is trying to monkey with mailin voting to try to reduce it and to try to interfere with the upcoming election. So all of that together yields the conclusion that these reasons that the post master general has been giving, that hes trying to improve efficiency and ontime performance are pretext for what appear to be designed to help President Trump at the polls in november and that is the underlying concern that will be the back drop for the grilling that hes going to get on monday from my committee. Youve questioned his appointment and qualifications. He said hes done massive things for boeing and he has a plan for the success of the Postal Service. You still concerned that hes not up to the job . Yes. And i circulated along with my colleague katie porter talking about the Selection Process in which he was appointed. It was highly irregular, jake. Normally the board of governors contracts with an outside Consulting Firm to find the best qualified applicant and best qualified person to take over as post master general, to remove the politics from the situation. However, in this case, mr. Dejoy was actually pushed upon the board of governors by the white house. He was not vetted by the outside Consulting Firm or search firm. And he did not even undergo a background check. And that is why one of the board of governors members, mr. Williams, actually in part resigned because of that. So were going to be exploring that as well with mr. Dejoy on monday. Now, i know that the Postal Service is a service. It is in the constitution. It is not a business. But dejoy said that the post office needs to get its fiscal house in order, proiointing oute agency has lost 80 billion since 2007. Do you disagree with the idea that the Postal Service needs to make changes to help it become more financially sustainable . No, i dont disagree with that. I think there need to be changes. For one, there is a prefunding mandate on the Postal Service instituted in 2006 requiring them to prefund Retiree Health care benefits for 75 years, jake. I was a Small Business person, i have never seen any similar mandate on any company in the private or public sector. And so that has to be changed. And also the Postal Service obviously needs other reforms to make sure that it is sustainable. But in the lead up to the election, jake, massive changes should not be made that would risk the election results. And disenfranchise voters. That is one of the biggest fears driving so many of my constituents to contact me right now. Congressman raja krishnonoorthi, thank you for your time and well be watching the testimony and your questions on monday. Thank you so much, jake. It was once solid Trump Country but now some voters in a critical state are afraid the president is leaving them in the dust. And a new warning that the coronavirus death toll could explode yet again because some are not getting the point that large crowds and no masks are a really, really bad idea right now. Stay with us. I had this 100,000 student debt. 225,000 in debt. 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Whether we see them or not, we need to know that theyre always there. For the past 25 years, masimo has been monitoring patients in hospitals around the world so that doctors and nurses can make sure you feel safe. As new challenges have arisen, weve grown to bring that same safety and support to the place that you want to be most. If weve learned nothing else, its that when challenges arise, theres only one way to rise above. Together. Masimo. Together in hospital, together at home. In our health lead today, a haunting prediction from the centers for Disease Control and prevention. There may be nearly 195,000 total deaths due to coronavirus by september 12th in the u. S. That is just about three weeks from now. Contributing to the case count, especially in rural areas, what are called superspreading events. A study in georgia found that Mass Gatherings are playing a key role in spreading the virus in rural areas, Mass Gatherings such as the one in south dakota where a motorcycle rally this month has led to at least seven new cases and spread into the next state over, nebraska. We just learned a tattoo artist working that day has tested positive for covid19. Joining me now to discuss this and much more. Dr. Jean moreso from the university of alabama at birmingham. Doctor, thank you so much for joining us. What is your reaction to the cdc prediction of 195,000 deaths in total by just three weeks from now . Thanks, jake. Good to be here as always. My reaction is, of course, sadness. Because, remember the deaths represent individuals as i know you know and it is every single death is really a tragedy that we would have like to have prevented. I think it is a realistic prediction, based on the accrual of deaths that we have seen over the last month or so. The situation with the death prediction is interesting. As you know, and as dr. Redfield emphasized, it really peaked about three weeks two to three weeks after you start seeing the correlated peak in the number of cases. So weve predicted been seeing this increase in deaths about that time after. So if you factor in the fact that we are seeing a decline in the number of cases, that number is probably a best case scenario, which is a really terrifying thing. But probably at least likely to be true. I dont want you to get involved in politics, but joe biden talking yesterday about the coronavirus pandemic said it didnt have to be this way. Every Health Expert ive talked to has said the same thing. It didnt have to be this way. Do you agree . I do agree. And i think the number of parameters that we could have done better are numerous. I mean, in medicine we say the best diagnostic tool is the retrospectivescope and you say what you could have done. These are things that it is not in retrospect, it is things that we were really clamoring for and begging for all along and they included adequate access to widespread diagnostic testing, we know the debacle that that entailed. That didnt happen early enough. And most critically we needed a coordinated National Plan and we still need a coordinated National Plan. But as you know, weve got states making their own plans, weve got university, College Campuses making their own plans. And so with that, we just have a whole diversity of approaches. And the situation where you have a state like georgia really having a very hard time. And other states doing very well. So that did not need to be the case. Especially when you look at other countries as weve discussed that have done very well. So regarding this emory study, how big are these events that should be avoided . How many people, what kind of events . So it depends. To be safest, you probably should be less than ten. Less than 25 is great. And less than 50 is absolute. So when you look at the super spreading events, theyve been things like funerals, barbecues, church services, revival services, you mentioned the sturgis motorcycle rally which was a very big event and people were clearly not Wearing Masks in some of photographs. So, you know, the smaller the better. But the key is, again, social distancing combined with the barriers of masks. So if you have ten people having a driveway happy hour and youre sitting six feet apart all around, it is probably okay. Especially if you are outside. If you have the number of people mingling at a buffet table where youre sharing utensils and food, that is a lot more problematic. So those are some general numbers. But the context is really important. Would standing in line to vote on election day be an example of a potential superspreader event . It could be unless you follow the precautions that ive seen many places using. And those might include standing six feet apart and it certainly could include masks. So if you combine some measure of that six feet distance, ideally and that may be tough where you dont have the physical space to create that kind of line, but if you augment that with consistent mask wearing, that actually can be very safe. We have not heard of any infections that have been acquired because of these types of events. So that is really a good thing. Another place were seeing Mass Gatherings, colleges and universities, syracuse just suspended 23 students for ignoring the college guidelines. Fln excerpt of a letter reads, quote, the students who gathered on the quad last night may have done damage enough to shut down campuses including Residence Halls before the semester even begins. These were students outside, as i understand it. Should students back on College Campuses should not socialize or if they do, how do they do it . Right. So a couple of things. I do not think we should outlaw socialization. The whole point of getting back on campus is recognizing that people need their lifetime milestones. Weve six or seven months of kids missing important milestones, whether it is graduation or prom or first day at school, whatever that is. So to the extent that we can do this safely, i do respect the efforts to do that. What does safely mean . It means, again, going back to those numbers we just talked about for gatherings. So safe is not being in a bar with 50 people and drinking on top of not Wearing Masks. Safe might be getting together with people at a place where there are ten of you and Wearing Masks and being cautious. And the kids outside, we have no idea when they acquired the infection. So i worry about pointing blame at people when we dont understand the context of how these things happen. So we have some work to do to figure this out but i do think well get there. Doctor, thank you so much for your time today. We really appreciate it. My pleasure. Did joe biden slam the door on one of President Trumps favorite lines of attack and how his speech could change the race and how trump plans to counter attack. Thats next. Hey there people eligible for medicare. Gimme two minutes. And ill tell you some important things to know about medicare. First, it doesnt pay for everything. Say this pizza. [mmm pizza. ] is your part