Lives. By the way, that steve fda is steven hahn. Not only that, the president accuses the fda of purposefully stonewalling them in an effort to hurt the reelection chances. Trump is not being trump not being reelected is more important to a bunch of doctors than saving the lives of literally tense of thousands of americans. He didnt stop there. In a really bad attempt at a magicians mind game trump inserted the word doctors and studies when he meant i. Many doctors and studies disagree with this, this being the fdas decision to revoke the emergency authorization for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine for covid19 because they only work on treating covid19 in Donald Trumps mind and not in reality. The fda consists of doctors, Health Officials and experts. Trump is none of those. The fd a is a nonpolitical body. A very similar situation has been playing out with the United StatesPostal Service, another nonpolitical body which trump has nonetheless corrupted at the expense of american people. New reporting details how trump used treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin to essentially strong arm the republican members of the Postal Service board of governors to install and find someone to do trumps bidding focusing on extreme cost cutting, price increases and be it appears suppressing the vote by significantly hampering americans ability to voting by mail. Remember louis dujoy. He has no business being in the position of postmaster general. He owned a Logistics Business and he reportedly still maintains significant financial stakes with companies that either do business with or compete with the agency he runs. Dujoy is mostly known for being a major republican and trump donor. As recently as october of 2017 dujoy reportedly threw a lavish fundraiser at his home for trumps reelection campaign. The New York Times was told hes been to way more republican fundraisers than post offices. That could be why dujoy had such a tough time before his remote testimony which was filled with apparent lies or misrepresentations regarding several of his controversial changes notably regarding overtime rules and also the fact that the Postal Service isnt going to return recently decommissioned mailboxes and equipment. His actions and internal post office memos also dont back up his claim that the agency is set to handle the expected influx of voting by mail this year. All of this makes his appearance tomorrow morning before the House Oversight committee all the more important. Yesterday at a bipartisan effort meant to reinforce the agency, the house of representatives passed a bill reversing the recent cost cutting policies and infusing 25 billion in emergency funds. And the difference in opinion on the need to help american icons remains stark. It is also necessary for us to have this legislation because in my conversations with the postmaster general, which are most unsatisfactory, he said he had no intention of restoring the post office boxes that were removed, no intention of restoring the sorting machinery in the Postal Services and other infrastructure. Very essential to keeping the mail on time. We dont trust the person who heads this but were going to give you 25 billion. Do we need that money . Absolutely not. Post office tells us they have 15 billion on hand, they have access to a 10 billion line of credit. That will more than take them for a year from now. We dont need to be spending this money right now. Its a silly, silly bill. The actions by the postmaster general in recent weeks is a sabotage campaign aimed at manipulating mail service and whatever the intent, its hurting everyday americans. Now decades later here i am again on the floor of the house of representatives watching a cartoon. While the Trump Administration and its allies continue to gas light the american people, we actually listen to our con stiet two went and their lived experiences and how this has disrupted their lives. Joining us now nbc news correspondent for the white house, jeff bennett. Hes done extensive reporting on the benefits of the mailin ballots and the u. S. Postal service. The u. S. House bill is expected to stall in the senate. What happens next . It means its up to the public to keep up the pressure. Up to House Democrats to keep up the oversight. So william dujoy keeps up what he said under oath to commit to handling ballot mail in a timely manner. But that does not really address the underlying issue about these delays because separate from what happens with election day, all ali, we are hearing from americans tragic story after tragic story. We had a story out today, spoke with a woman named jan stowe. Shes been a nurse for more than 40 years. She says over the course of her career shes helped heroin addicts withdraw from that drug. Now i know what that feels like. She herself is withdrawing because she hasnt been able to get much needed medication for her chronic back pain. I heard from a guy who runs a small newspaper out in oregon, rural oregon. He says in many cases his hyper local Community Paper isnt getting to people who ordered it or its showing up two to three weeks late. Not much value for a newspaper that shows up two to three weeks late. In one of the most egregious stories, i heard from the daughter of a Vietnam Combat veteran who is 100 dependent on oxygen. His medication, his inhalers have been two weeks late in the mail. Still havent shown up. If he has to go to his va to get those medications himself, its a 40 mile drive and shes worried he could be exposed potentially to covid. House members are up to the job if they ask focused and informed questions. They will ask the postmaster general about those issues and they will ask him about how it is he got into that position. The open to the show you detailed the reporting by the New York Times which we also have about the undue influence, the inappropriate and undue influence of secretary mnuchin and other people who helped install dujoy. In another universe the postmaster general would be a man named ronald strohman. He was the top ranking africanamerican at the Postal Service. Been on the job for 40 years. Had been the deputy postmaster general for nine years. When the board of governors, all trump appointees, skipped over him and appointed louis dujoy, a man who has no direct experience working for the Postal Service, unlike his predecessors, and really was, you know, a trump megadonor appointed him over strohman, strohman resigned, ali. Thank you for your important reporting on this. Well be watching that houseovsi think youre right, in the end this comes down to public pressure. This comes down to americans saying particularly those who cant get their medications, veterans who cant get the medications they need and the American Public being able to vote by mail. This comes down to public pressure. Jeff bennett from the white house. Joining me is the lead author of that New York Times piece diving into treasury secretary Steven Mnuchins central role in Donald Trumps war against the post office. Political reporter ken vogel. Thank you for joining us this morning. Talk to me about this. Republicans have had for a very long time now a beef about how the post office is run. It seems misinformed because there was pressure to make the post office prefund 75 years of its pension within ten years which is something most private companies dont need to do. Theyve translated that into it being an inefficient organization. Why did mnuchin get involved in the potential selection of a postmaster general . Well, ali, this dates back to President Trumps fascination and fixation with the Postal Service which predates his election as president , but after he took office he started focusing on the post office not just because it was fiscally insolvent which does in some ways attribute to that pension requirement that you just mentioned but also because he thought that it was giving an unfair advantage to amazon, which of course is owned by jeff bezos who also owns the Washington Post which President Trump thinks covers him unfavorably. So he started tweeting about how the Postal Service was getting taken advantage of by amazon and soon after that he appointed secretary mnuchin to head this Postal Service task force to recommend reforms to help ostensibly to make it fiscally solvent. Mnuchin in the process of becoming interested in that and doing this report began meeting with potential nominees to the board of governors, which is the body that picked the postmaster general, and kind of feeling them out on whether they would be supportive of these reforms and making recommendations to the white house of nominees to this board based upon their willingness to buy in on these reforms and as the board of governors is being reshaped and these Task Force Recommendations are being pushed, the postmaster general resigns and so the board of governors has a chance with these mnuchin recommended appointees on it to pick a new postmaster general who would implement these reforms. And Steve Mnuchin, our reporting shows, followed this process, the Selection Process very closely, asked for updates repeatedly and kind of suggested to folks if not louis dujoy in particular someone who might be in that cut from that same cloth, a private sector person who would push these types of reforms. Ken, we appreciate your reporting on this, you and your team at the New York Times. Ken vogel is a reporter for the New York Times. Joining me now is democratic congresswoman robin kelly of illinois. Shes the chair of the black caucus brain trust. Shes part of the House Oversight committee. On a personal level, congresswoman kellys mother was a postal worker and her brother works for the Postal Service so, congresswoman, you are uniquely connected to this, as are many africanamerican families. In fact, a disproportionate number of africanamerican families are connected to the u. S. Postal service. Its been a real ladder into the middle class for a lot of them. Definitely. My mother is no longer with us, but she worked for the post office. She was a mail clerk and my brother is a mail handler and, yes, it has been a pathway to the middle class. Lets talk about the testimony tomorrow. Since fridays testimony so much more information has come out, including about what we were just talking about, treasury secretary mnuchins potential involvement in this, something that dujoy didnt have a very good answer to when senator peters asked him about it on friday. More importantly, the fact that the Postal Service has not returned its Service Levels to what it was before he started cutting. They just have stopped apparently cutting and decommissioning machines. I mean, its absolutely ridiculous. Families depend on the post office. Ive gotten almost 1,000 calls to my d. C. Office and many, many, many calls to my District Office with veterans not receiving their medicine, seniors arent receiving their medicine, people not getting their checks. Ive had businesses say they havent gotten mail in a week to ten days. Some get mail every other day. I mean, they cant function like this. And people cant miss their medicines. In a letter to postmaster general dejoy, first and foremost, what happened to the removed equipment . When will it be replaced or better yet, upgraded to serve the 21st century needs. I think like youve shown on this report and like my colleague said, there is some sabotaging going on as far as mailin ballots. I cant think of any other reason he would do it. But well ask him tomorrow, you know, what is his explanation for that. One of the things that he talked about was that he had not suspended overtime. We and other organizations have reporting, memos internally that suggested that he had. But it sounds like hes splitting hairs. While there may not have been instructed to say no overtime, there were all sorts of very, very clear directives that anybody who could read english meant there will be no money paid for overtime. Are you able to get him to narrow down on this and admit that hes parsing words and that ultimately the intent was to cut overtime . We will certainly do every we can to try to get him to narrow down and be more clear on his answers. I went to the post office myself to mail a package and when i was there a couple of the postal workers said we know who you are and we just want to apologize to you for what is going on and i assured them they didnt have to apologize to me, i knew they were just following directives, that it wasnt their fault. Congresswoman, thank you for joining us. Thanks for having me. Congresswoman robin kelly of illinois is the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus health brain trust and a member of the oversight and reform committee. Not only are the democrats trying to win back the house, theyre trying to retake the senate. Its crucial if the democrats hope to accomplish anything. Im going to talk to two candidates who are running on different sides of the country. Y humira patients,. This ones for you. You inspired us to make your humira experience even better. With humira citratefree. It has the same effectiveness you know and trust, but we removed the citrate buffers, theres less liquid, and a thinner needle. With less pain immediately following injection. Ask your doctor about humira citratefree. And you can use your copay card to pay as little as 5 a month. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections. Serious and sometimes fatal infections,. Including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened,. As have blood, liver, and nervous system problems,. Serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. 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Even if joe biden wins the presidency, if Mitch Mcconnell maintains control of the senate dont expect much to change. Republicans hold a 53 to 45 seat advantage. Democrats need to flip three seats if biden wins the election since the Vice President casts the ty breaking vote or four seats if trump is reelected. Out west democrats stand the chance of flipping arizona. They show retired astronaut mark kelly ahead of Martha Mcsally by more than four points. She made headlines when she elicited donations if you can give a dollar, five, if you can fast a meal, give what that would be. Lets not ask people to give up a meal for political donations in this country. Looking into the major Battleground Senate races starting with candidates from texas and south carolina, this week we head to alaska and North Carolina. Dr. Al gross of alaska. An orthopaedic surgeon and commercial fisherman. Hes challenging dan sullivan. Gross won the democratic primary despite not being a democrat. Hes an independent. First Democratic Senate nominee who is not a registered democrat. Also with me, Cal Cunningham from North Carolina, lawyer and former member of the North Carolina senate. Hes challenging incumbent senator tom till lis. He served in the iraq war and afghanistan. Dr. Gross, let me start with you. Talk to me about you running as an independent with the democratic nomination and how that affects you in your race. Good morning, ali, from alaska. Ive been an independent since i was 18 except for a very brief stint when trump won i became a democrat briefly. This states full of independents. 57 . People like to think for themselves up here. They dont like to be told what to do in alaska independents are allowed to run in the democratic primary, which is what i did. I will caucus with democrats, of course. The republicans have absolutely failed when it came to health care, anything progressive and so thats why i in part why i will caucus with democrats. Are you in an airplane or something . No. Im in my camper. It kind of looks like a boat but theres no billing pumps and no bilg bilge alarms. Call cunningham, talk to me about your race and what youre hearing from folks in North Carolina. Ali, thank you so much for having me on. I appreciate it. Welcome to the fight for the u. S. Senate here in North Carolina we are working hard fighting for eve