The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
August 21, 2020

Postmaster General to Face Congressional Grilling over "Sabotage" of Postal Service
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A group of 90 House Democrats are calling for the immediate removal of
Louis De Joy as postmaster general, accusing him of sabotaging the
Postal Service ahead of the election. Their call comes as De Joy
prepares for two days of scheduled testimony before Congress.

Across the country USPS workers are reporting long delays processing and
delivering mail. At one Los Angeles facility, the L.A. Times reported
that rodents and insects were swarming parcels of rotten fruit and meat,
with baby chicks left dead inside of boxes.

In Texas, Congressmember Joaquin Castro confirmed Wednesday that postal
leaders in Washington ordered the removal of six mail sorting machines
from a processing plant in San Antonio. A union leader said mail
handlers were instructed to cart away tens of thousands of pieces of
mail ahead of Castro's tour of the facility to hide evidence of a
backlog.

This comes as emails obtained by Vice show USPS Director of Maintenance
Operations Kevin Couch ordered postal managers around the U.S. "not to
reconnect / reinstall machines that have previously been disconnected
without approval from HQ Maintenance." Scores of the machines have been
removed and broken down into parts nationwide.


.