Pelosi Recalls House Over Trump’s Post Office Sabotage

Kevin Drum

For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Now we’re talking:

Spurred by fears that President Trump is trying to eviscerate the U.S. Postal Service to help him win reelection, Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday abruptly summoned the House back to Washington this week to pass a bill aimed at rolling back administration cutbacks that could cripple widespread mail-in voting. Congressional Democrats also called on the recently appointed postmaster general to testify Aug. 24 at an emergency hearing by a House committee about cost-cutting moves that led to steep slowdowns in mail service in much of the country over the last three months.

This is an area where good politics and good policy come together. The postal service really does need higher funding, especially this year, and this is a very popular position since practically everyone loves the post office. It’s hard to imagine Republicans being willing to take a beating over this for months on end, especially since it’s unlikely to actually make a big difference in the election results anyway. Donald Trump is too stupid to know this, but most Republican leaders know it perfectly well.