Democrats’ Baseless USPS Conspiracy Theories

Democrats are pushing baseless conspiracy theories accusing President Trump of “destroying” the postal service – which has lost over $78 billion since 2007. Of course, none of it is true, so let’s get our facts straight.

• The CARES Act President Trump signed into law gave USPS a $10 billion loan, and it hasn’t even been tapped into yet.
• According to their own reports, the Postal Service has enough cash on hand to remain liquid through 2021.
• The Postal Service actually has a record amount of cash on hand:
  • President Trump established a task force that developed recommendations on how to improve the Postal Service’s financial situation.
  • President Trump wants to reform the Postal Service in order to fix its structural, long-term problems, while Democrats just want another bailout that fails to fix the problems.
• Recently, the unhinged left spread images on social media of a few mail boxes that were locked as evidence of some vast conspiracy. Claire McCaskill took a picture of a Seattle mailbox (from someone else’s tweet) and suggested it was Washington DC. It’s not. This is not happening around the country.
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claimed that seniors’ social security checks are in jeopardy because of USPS funding – when the truth is Social Security checks are provided to Americans electronically now.
  • From the Social Security Administration: “If you apply for Social Security or Supplemental Security Income benefits, a new law went into effect March 1, 2013, requiring that you receive your payments electronically.”

Yes, USPS warned dozens of states last week that their deadlines “for requesting and casting mail-in ballots are incongruous with the Postal Service’s delivery standards.” It was an effort by the USPS to prevent mail-in ballot failure. According to the Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board:

The letters were planned before the new Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, took the reins on June 15. Mr. Marshall sent nearly identical advice to election officials in a May letter posted at USPS.com. Strange public conspiracy.

“To account for delivery standards and to allow for contingencies (e.g., weather issues or unforeseen events), voters should mail their return ballots at least 1 week prior to the due date,” Mr. Marshall wrote in May. The same rule, he added, should apply to blank ballots: “The Postal Service also recommends that state or local election officials use FirstClass Mail and allow 1 week for delivery to voters.”

These guidelines are worth reiterating, given how states have bungled their recent primary elections. New York voters can request an absentee ballot using a mail application, which is valid if postmarked a week before Election Day. As a result of this lax deadline, plus a deluge of applications, roughly 30,000 ballots weren’t mailed to voters until June 22, a day before the primary election.

That seven-day deadline “is unrealistic,” Douglas Kellner, co-chair of the New York State Board of Elections, testified in court last month. The state board has argued for moving it back to 14 days, in line with the USPS suggestion of allowing seven days for delivery each way. Is Mr. Kellner complicit in postal sabotage?

Some states have even shorter deadlines. “Requests to have an absent voter ballot mailed to you must be received by your clerk no later than 5 p.m. the Friday before the election,” says Michigan’s Secretary of State. That’s a mere four days (including a Sunday) before the voting. If a Michigander files a request on Oct. 30, how realistic is it to expect that the ballot can be processed, mailed, voted and return mailed—all by Nov. 3?

The USPS understandably does not want to be set up for failure, which is evident in the laconic comment of its spokeswoman. “The Postal Service,” she said Friday, “is asking election officials and voters to realistically consider how the mail works.”

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is being railroaded by Democrats for alleged sabotage of the USPS for trying to implement cost-cutting reforms like reducing post office operating hours across several states, cutting overtime for postal workers and by removing some letter collection boxes. Last quarter, the USPS lost another $2.2 billion.

The truth is, the USPS has had financial problems for years. It’s continually operated at a loss, and even the Obama Administration suggested cuts to USPS services multiple times in an effort to address the organization’s troubles.

Obama’s 2013 budget would have ended Saturday mail service and forced the Postal Service to raise postage prices. In 2014, the Obama Administration again called to end Saturday service, while adding further service cuts and delaying prepayments for future retiree healthcare. Around 14,000 mailboxes were removed during the Obama Administration.

The Trump Administration – like its predecessor in the Obama Administration – is simply trying to save the USPS from years of bad management.

It’s time for Democrats to stop playing politics with the USPS and for the media to stop eating up and regurgitating baseless conspiracies.