Two top Senate Democrats are calling b.s. on President Donald Trump and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s conveniently timed U.S. Postal Service (USPS) overhaul. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bob Casey announced Thursday they are launching an investigation to determine whether the operational changes DeJoy imposed have led to reported mail delays for seniors, veterans, and other users.
“Millions of Americans with diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, asthma, and other chronic conditions, illnesses or health care needs rely on the USPS for delivery of their prescription drugs and are at grave risks if President Trump’s efforts to degrade mail service results in delays and disruptions,” the senators wrote in a news release. “These health threats are magnified by the ongoing (coronavirus) pandemic.”
Warren and Casey wrote letters to the parent companies of CVS Health, UnitedHealth Group, OptumHealth, Humana, Walgreens, and Duane Reade. The legislators asked the businesses about “the number of customers receiving their prescriptions by mail, the average time it takes for them to be shipped and the extent to which recent Postal Service policy changes have introduced new delays for customers or costs to the companies,” The Washington Post reported.
Their inquiry follows DeJoy’s decision to reassign the post office's two head executives of daily operations, reduce workers’ hours and overtime, and in effect, get rid of mail sorting machines months before a general election in which millions are expected to vote-by-mail. In San Antonio, Texas alone, the postmaster general had six mail sorting machines removed, Rep. Joaquin Castro told San Antonio Express-News. Having toured San Antonio’s main post office Wednesday, Castro spoke with Dennis Stasa, senior plant manager for the Postal Service’s Rio Grande District.
“They were told by Washington to remove those six machines,” Castro told Express-News. “(Stasa) said they have been able to carry out their work. But as I told him, even my own mom had an issue getting medicine on time that she’s usually able to get in a few days. And others have shared similar stories.”
The legislator had allegedly been duped into thinking operations "looked orderly." He later found out mail handlers were told to hide "large piles of mail" before his visit to the plant, Express-News reported. “This mail has been sitting there for weeks and weeks out,” said Carlos Barrios, clerk craft director at the plant. “So rather than show Castro when he comes in and he sees the cluster there, it’s best to not even have it there. So they moved it and they transported the majority of that to the north dock, where they were put on a trailer so they can be sent to Austin.
“They played (Castro) for a fool.”
The lawmaker tweeted Thursday: “If this conduct is true, it’s outrageous that @USPS management would attempt to deceive the people of San Antonio about the condition of postal operations. I expect an explanation from USPS leadership and an immediate reversal of these delays: deliver the people’s mail now.”
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