Ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH) spoke with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto on Saturday, slamming House Democrats over their $25 billion funding bill for the United States Postal Service (USPS), which Democrats say is needed to prevent President Trump from trying to “destroy” the Post Office before the 2020 mail-in election.
Ahead of the House vote Saturday on the “Delivering for America Act,”, Rep. Jordan said that the “real concern is when you go with live ballots sent out to everyone, as some states are doing, that have haven’t done this before”.
“You need no better example than the sponsor of today’s legislation. The Chairwoman of the Oversight Committee, Carolyn Maloney. Her election was on June 23rd, but it took six weeks to determine who the winner was. That’s the concern the president has, that’s the concern I have, that’s the concern I think lots of Americans have,” Rep. Jim Jordan pointed out.
“This is not about the postal service, this about politics,” he continued. “The postal service– they got 14 billion cash on hand, they got a 10 billion line of credit. They’re making more money right now than they were at this point last year. They’re removing some sorting machines and changing out some mail boxes.”
“Guess what Neil?” Rep. Jordan asked. “Every postmaster general’s done that. In fact, between 2011 and 2016, President Obama removed 12,000 mail collection boxes. Was he trying to influence an election? No. This is the typical politics from the Democrats, one more way they think they can go after the president and attack the White House. I think Americans see through it. Americans want their elections to work safely. They want it to be secure. We all want that to happen, so let’s make sure we focus on that.”
According to a an August 2016 report, in a 17-month period during Obama’s second term, hundreds of mailboxes were removed without following the appropriate process, as “322 out-of-service boxes were permanently removed from the street without Eastern Area approval or public notification to customers.” Continued Below
At the same time, that report and another from September 2017 show that there are good reasons for eliminating mailboxes, such as underuse, and that even more mailboxes should have been removed over the years, which would have saved the government hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. The five-year total of 12,000 removed mailboxes jumped to 14,000 in the 2017 report, Fox News reported.
Rep. Jordan reiterated that the “Democrats are playing politics”, but also wondered, “Why are we voting on the bill today but not having the hearing on the legislation and hearing from the postmaster general until Monday? Normally it’s the other way around. Normally you want to get all the information, hear from the person in charge, the postmaster general. How much you want to bet on Monday they treat the postmaster general just like they treated the attorney general three weeks ago? How much you want to bet?” [Emphasis added].
“Because again, this is not about any type of policy solution or concerns about what’s right, this is all about politics. It was first the Russia investigation, then their first big hearing in this committee, this Congress, Michael Cohen. And he came in and lied 7 times. Then it was the fake Ukraine impeachment. Now this is just the latest effort of the Democrats to go after the president,” the Ohio congressman said. Video Below
“I think the American people see it as evidence by the simple fact we’re voting on a 25 billion piece of legislation today and yet, we haven’t had a hearing on it. The hearing is gonna happen after the fact. That tells you right there, this is not serious about real legislation. This is not real serious effort. This is political,” Rep. Jordan expressed. [Emphasis added].
President Trump has warned he will veto the bill if the House passes it. A White House letter warning of a veto says the bill “would arbitrarily give U.S.P.S. $25 billion in ’emergency’ taxpayer funding, without linking that funding to either the COVID-19 pandemic or the upcoming election”, Fox News reported.
Rep. Jim Jordan’s full remarks:
President Donald Trump tweeted:
….that they are trying to pull off in violation of everything that our Country stands for. Vote NO to the Pelosi/ Schumer money wasting HOAX which is taking place now. Then fight the $51 million unasked for Ballots. Only ABSENTEE BALLOTS are acceptable!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2020
In New Jersey they want you to certify that you asked for the Universal Mail-In Ballot that they sent you. But you never asked for it. Disaster in the wings!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2020
To get into the Democrat National Convention, you must have an ID card with a picture…Yet the Democrats refuse to do this when it come to your very important VOTE! Gee, I wonder WHY???
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 21, 2020
The Democrats are demanding Mail-In Ballots because the enthusiasm meter for Slow Joe Biden is the lowest in recorded history, and they are concerned that very few people will turn out to vote. Instead, they will search & find people, then “harvest” & return Ballots. Not fair!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 20, 2020
They are sending out 51,000,000 Ballots to people who haven’t even requested a Ballot. Many of those people don’t even exist. They are trying to STEAL this election. This should not be allowed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 21, 2020
