Facing congressional condemnation and nationwide public fury, new Trump postmaster general Louis DeJoy now says in a statement that he will be "suspending" controversial policy changes that have resulted in stalled mail deliveries.
"To avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail, I am suspending these initiatives until after the election is concluded."
DeJoy claims that as a result, post office hours will not change, mail processing and collection equipment will not be removed, "no mail processing facilities will be closed," and "we reassert that overtime has, and will continue to be, approved as needed."
This is far from a complete reversal of DeJoy's actions, however. There is no mention of returning mail processing and collection equipment already removed nationwide. And the last point, on overtime, promises nothing at all; numerous post office workers have come forward to say that overtime hours are being withheld, resulting in large delays to mail delivery—during a pandemic requiring significant absenteeism, no less. DeJoy merely asserts that the policy "has" not been what those workers are claiming. Similarly, there is no specific mention of new policies requiring mail distribution trucks to leave at their scheduled times, regardless of whether mail remains to be loaded.
Democratic lawmakers are already demanding not a "suspension" of DeJoy's new restrictions, but a reversal of those moves that have already taken place.
No matter what DeJoy claims, however, ongoing sabotage of the nation's mail service will not easily be hidden. Mail that previously took days to reach its destination is now regularly being delayed for weeks; if mail continues to be delayed at that same pace, we know for certain that DeJoy is retaining new policies that are delaying it.
Every American will be able to measure the truth of this new statement within the next few weeks.
