This room, for guidance from the office of attending physician, masks must be worn at all times during todays proceedings except when a member or witness is speaking. Please also sanitize your seating area. They view these as a safety measure and an important matter of order and decorum for this proceeding. For members participating remotely, please keep your video function on at all times. Even if you are not recognized by the chair. Members are responsible for muting and unmuting themselves and please remember to mute yourself after you finish speaking. Consistent with House Resolution 965 and the accompanying regulations, staff and members will view it as appropriate when they arent under recognition to eliminate background noise. I see that we have a quorum and i now recognize myself for opening remarks. Let me welcome our witnesses as ive let the Ranking Member know. Ill be going considerably longer than the customary five minutes. My statement this morning and, of course, ill yie
Well continue, mr. Connolly. Thank you very much mister chairman, and thank you for our panelist for being here. I have a long convoluted mark, thats why were coming back and forth. I show the Government Operations subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over Inspector General. So, mr. Brian bulatao could you describe for us your understanding of the roles and functions of an ig an Inspector General . The Inspector General reports to the head of the agency, under the direction provision according to the ig. They have the responsibility to identify areas of fraud and abuse. They have the mission to conduct independent audits, to conduct inspections and to conduct investigations. And they have strong commitment to be independent of any and appropriate influence. Where that influences coming from within their agency, or from congress, or from any other place, there is a commitment to be independent from inappropriate influences. Would you, would you but do you believe that an ig is subject t
Affairs will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a recess of the committee at any point and all members will have five days to submit statements, extraneous material and questions for the record subject to limitation in the rules. To insert something into the record, please have your staff email the previously circulated address or contact full committee staff. As a reminder to members, staff and others physically present in this room, for guidance from the office of attending physician, masks must be worn at all times during todays proceedings except when a member or witness is speaking. Please also sanitize your seating area. They view these as a safety measure and an important matter of order and decorum for this proceeding. For members participating remotely, please keep your video function on at all times. Even if you are not recognized by the chair. Members are responsible for muting and unmuting themselves and please remember to mute yourself aft
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 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 a 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 headlines from almost every state in the count
[inaudible conversations] welcome, everybody, todays hybrid hearing. Pursuant house rules some members will appear in person and others will appear remotely via webex. Since some members are appearing in person let me first remind everyone that pursuant 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 youre speaking in what is known in webex as active speaker view. At time is visible in the room directly in front of you. For members appearing remotely i know you are all familiar with webex 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 webex set to