Some in California's political leadership are lobbying to get more funding for the U.S. Postal Service ahead of the November election. The USPS is expecting a large number of mail-in ballots during the general election because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but President Trump on Thursday said the insistence by Democrats that Postal Service money be included in a new coronavirus related stimulus package has become a major hurdle for federal lawmakers and White House negotiators working on that financial assistance plan.
The President has also expressed on multiple occasions his concern about possible widespread voting fraud as a result mass mail-in voting. During a White House briefing on Wednesday, he insisted that allowing the Postal Service to play such a large role in the November election would perpetuate "one of the greatest frauds in history."
House Speaker and leading Democratic voice Nancy Pelosi is vowing to continue to push for funding, and she said what's happening in the postal agency undermines the "health of our democracy." She claimed that many Republicans have long-aimed to privatize the USPS.
She's not alone. Democratic California Representative Ami Bera also said the Postal Service must be funded so it can continue to operate at full capacity. Bera is urging his Senate colleagues to pass the Heroes Act, which includes Postal Service and election funding in addition to more coronavirus relief aid.
The political tug-o-war over the USPS comes as the agency begins to replace top officials. A total of 23 people in executive positions are being replaced under new Postmaster Louis DeJoy. Dejoy, retired logistics company CEO, also has strong ties to the GOP and has been a big part of the fundraising efforts for the Republican National Convention that was scheduled to take place in Charlotte this month. Postal officials are also instituting a hiring freeze, and they're asking employees to volunteer for early retirement.
The postal service reportedly lost more than two-billion-dollars last quarter.