US House passes 25-bln-USD bill to boost Postal Service in defiance of White House

Source: Xinhua Published: 2020/8/23 11:39:26

Photo taken on Aug. 18, 2020 shows the United States Postal Service headquarters in Washington, D.C., the United States. The chief of U.S. Postal Service (USPS) said Tuesday his agency will suspend until after the election a series of cost-cutting reforms that raised concerns from critics about delays in mail delivery and possible disenfranchisement for voters. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)


 
The Democratic-led US House of Representatives on Saturday passed a bill to provide the cash-strapped US Postal Service (USPS) with 25 billion US dollars.

The legislative move was aimed at preventing the agency from making any reforms which could slow delivery of mail-in ballots for the presidential election in November.

The bill passed largely along party lines and was not expected to pass the Republican-led Senate.

The White House had previously issued a veto threat.

In July, the USPS sent letters to US states across the country, notifying them of possible delays in the delivery of mail-in ballots, which would cause those votes not to be counted on the Nov. 3 Election Day.

The letter warned that "certain deadlines for requesting and casting mail-in ballots are incongruous with the Postal Service's delivery standards," according to The Washington Post.

"This mismatch creates a risk that ballots requested near the deadline under state law will not be returned by mail in time to be counted under your laws as we understand them," the letter read.

The warnings also came at a time when the USPS found itself in a dire financial situation.

As the coronavirus pandemic has drastically disrupted this year's election process, a surging number of voters are expected to vote by mail-in ballots, a method US President Donald Trump has adamantly opposed, for he believes it raises the possibility of voting fraud.

Posted in: AMERICAS,WORLD FOCUS

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