White House rejects House bill on USPS funding

The White House dismissed an emergency funding bill designed to protect the postal service from structural changes before the November election as “going nowhere”.

Chief of staff Mark Meadows, discussing legislation passed by the House of Representatives late on Saturday, added that the “bill was not a serious bill”. 

The measures would provide the USPS with $25 billion and block operational changes by the Trump-appointed postmaster general Louis DeJoy.

It comes amid concerns that the president was blocking attempts to fund the postal service ahead of the 3 November election, which he has claimed – without evidence – would be rigged through mail voting. 

Mr Meadows on Sunday called the legislation a “political statement,” whilst stressing that Mr Trump would consider additional money only as part of a broader coronavirus relief package.

The bill will now head to the Senate, where Republicans have been pushing for a smaller $10 billion postal rescue as part of the next corona virus relief package.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday that “I can’t see how the Senate can avoid it unless they do so to their peril.”

Associated Press