With less than 80 days until the election, the United States Postal Service is warning states that without more funding, ballots might not make it back in time to be counted.
"This is not the time to be messing around with the postal service. This is the time to make sure it's adequately funded," said David Fineman, a former USPS Board of Governors chairman.
Fineman was appointed in 1995 by President Bill Clinton and served as chairman under President George W. Bush. He's also chair of the Fair Elections Center.
Funding issues with the agency are mainly due to a 2006 law that requires they pre-fund their pension 75 years out.
"Congress decided that the postal service should pre-fund its pension obligation. There’s no other company that I know of, private or public, that pre-funds its pension obligations. We knew the postal service was not going to be able to do that,” Fineman said.
The coronavirus was just icing on the cake.
"Had we not had COVID, and had we not had this pre-funding obligation, I think the postal service would be fine," he said.
At the same time, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has cut overtime, late delivery trips, and other expenses, as well as removed mailboxes and sorting machines.
The postal service inspector general is reviewing the policy changes.
“Why are you doing this in the middle of the night?” Fineman said. "Let's just assume that he was trying to act to rightsize the postal service. Why would he do it now?"
However, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows defended the decision.
"The normal process of taking them out are really about re-gearing because we are seeing an increase in parcels and decrease in the mail volume," Meadows said.
President Trump told reporters on Monday he's never encouraged the postmaster general to slow the mail.
Fineman says he never heard from the White House during his time on the board.
"Never. Never from the chief of staff, never from the president," he said. “In 1971, it was reorganized so it would be an independent agency.”
“In Pennsylvania, a federal judge asked the Trump administration to show them evidence of fraud and they could not come up with any evidence,” Fineman said.
The judge presiding over the case was appointed by the president.
Meantime, a lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court seeks to force adequate funding of the postal service prior to the election.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is calling back lawmakers from recess to vote on a $25 billion package that would also prevent any more changes to USPS.
On the other hand, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he is not concerned about the postal service and has no plans to call senators back to Washington.
DeJoy is expected to testify on Capitol Hill next week.
