Adams gets few answers from Postmaster General

Two North Carolina Congressional Members, Rep. Mark Walker (R) and Rep. Alma Adams (D), collided Monday during the Democrat-led U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform’s six-hour hearing on the U.S. Postal Service. The hearing was slated to examine whether Greensboro resident Louis DeJoy, the U.S. Postmaster General, is deliberately ramping down postal service nationwide at the behest of President Donald Trump in order to delay mail-in ballots for the upcoming November 3rd presidential election.

Republican Congressman Mark Walker (R-NC-6) of Greensboro formally introduced DeJoy during the hearing Monday, touting him as a respected businessman, philanthropist and community leader. The goal — to counter widespread media portrayals of DeJoy as a major Trump donor and loyalist installed last June to take control of the U.S. Postal Service in time to influence the flow of mail-in ballots.

Indeed, Walker joined the Republican cry that any talk of mail slowdowns was just Democratic party hysterics designed to win the election.

“ Nancy Pelosi has called a faux emergency session to push a conspiracy theory through the halls of Congress without facts nor merit,” Walker said in an August 22 release just before Democrats in the House Saturday passed a measure prohibiting the U.S. Postal Service from deliberately slowing down the mail. “Let this be clear: While millions of Americans are desperately waiting for Pelosi and Schumer to stop holding up coronavirus relief negotiations and help their small businesses, Democrats are instead intent on sporting tin foil hats and promoting baseless narratives.”

“I’m not engaged in sabotaging the elections,” DeJoy told the Congressional Committee, while at the same time giving Democrats a flat “No” when they asked him to stop removing mailboxes from street corners and mail sorting machines from mail processing centers, thus slowing down mail deliveries.

An internal Postal Service report the committee obtained confirms much of what has been alleged regarding mail service slowdowns. The report also documents that the slowdowns have actually gotten worse since July.

Rep. Alma Adams, who used to represent Rep. Walker’s district before she was forced to move to Charlotte because of redistricting, was the last to question DeJoy.

Adams, like many of her fellow Democrats before, noted how senior citizens in her district were concerned about not getting their medication through the mail on time. She asked about U.S. mailboxes in Charlotte that were covered with garbage bags (which she showed a picture of) to prevent the insertion of letters and packages.

“The recurring theme I kept hearing from Postmaster General DeJoy was ‘I don’t know’,” said Congresswoman Adams in a press release afterwards. “He doesn’t know how many blue boxes were taken. He doesn’t know why our Veterans are getting their medications late, or why goods that our small businesses rely on are arriving spoiled. He doesn’t know the cost of Priority Mail or the kind of stamp he needs to mail a postcard. He doesn’t know if his own mail is coming. The fact is: he just don’t know. Unfortunately for us, Mr. Postmaster General, not knowing is not good enough.”

The U.S. Senate is not likely to even take up the House bill passed Saturday.