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RNC Kicks Off with Roll Call Vote; Postmaster General Faces Grilling at House Hearing. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired August 24, 2020 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NEWSROOM: On his changes to the post office, changes, critics say, have hindered USPS ahead of a November election, one in which a big surge in mail-in voting is expected.

[10:00:11]

We're going to take you live to that hearing at the moment it begins, just moments from now.

And the Republican National Convention in North Carolina just officially called to order. President Trump is now on his way to Charlotte for today's roll call vote.

And on the eve of the RNC, the White House has announced the FDA is giving emergency authorization for the use of what's known as convalescent plasma to treat coronavirus, plasma from people who have survived the infection. But health experts are worried about moving too fast.

The New York Times also reporting the White House is looking to give an approval for a vaccine before the end of crucial phase three clinical trials, raising concerns that politics, once again, not the science, is influencing decisions on public health.

There's a lot to get to this morning. First, let's go to CNN's Pamela Brown in Washington for the latest on this USPS hearing. What do we expect here? Certainly hard questions from Democratic lawmakers. How is the postmaster general going to answer?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, that is the question. And this is likely to be much more contentious, Jim, than what we saw last Friday before the Senate. This is the emergency oversight hearing led by House Democrats. And, remember, it was just last week that nearly 100 House Democrats were pushing for DeJoy's ouster. And, of course, this comes as Democrats over weekend voted on this bill that would reverse changes DeJoy has made as the postmaster general and would halt any further changes until after the pandemic.

Now, the USPS pushed back on that over the weekend, saying that that would hamper its ability to be efficient and to cut necessary costs, but expect House Democrats today to scrutinize DeJoy's changes that he has made before the election, changes like cutting down on overtime, cutting down on the post office hours, removing mail sorting machines. Now, as we know, DeJoy put a halt to those changes but he had said in Friday's hearing that he would not be putting those mail sorting machines back online, those that have already been removed.

Another aspect that Dems are expected to scrutinize is this election of DeJoy and Mnuchin's role, the treasury secretary's role in his selection. We know he had met with the board of governors during the time that they were trying to find a postmaster general.

And so there's a lot of questions about Democrats about what role he has played and how much he has talked to DeJoy, particularly about the changes that were made. DeJoy has said he's not spoken to the president about these changes, but questions still remain on that front.

No, on Friday, DeJoy did make clear, he distanced himself from the president saying that he is a supporter of voting by mail. He says it's something that every American should do. The Postal Service has said that it is ready. It is capable to -- to handle the influx of mail-in ballots this year sending out this tweet. If all Americans vote by mail this year, 330 million ballots over the course of the election would be only 75 percent of what we deliver in one single day.

But, of course, Jim, that doesn't provide a lot of reassurance when we're in the situation now that there are still big delays of days, even weeks, for people getting their medicine and getting other important items that they need. And that is expected to be a big focus also at today's hearing.

SCIUTTO: Yes, and delayed mail-in ballots, many were rejected in the primaries, the concern what would happen in a bigger turnout in the general election. Pamela Brown, thanks very much.

Meanwhile, President Trump continues to sow doubt and push falsehoods with regard to mail-in voting. Over the weekend, Twitter labeled one of the president's tweets as, quote, violating the Twitter rules about civic and election integrity.

Let's go to the White House now. CNN's John Harwood is there. John, listen, this is a consistent message from this president. Actually, I shouldn't say consistent because there's contradiction in there, right? All mail-in voting bad but not say in, say, Republican-led Florida or Arizona. What's happening here, I mean, even as you have the postmaster general that's going to go on the Hill in a couple of minutes here and say voting by mail is just fine?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: What's happening here is a president who is losing in his re-election bid at this stage a couple of months before Election Day is trying to throw the cards up in the air and suggest that the balloting is not going to be fair.

He's put Louis DeJoy in a bad situation as well because, you know, Louis DeJoy said in the Senate hearing the other day that these were longstanding processes for changing the Postal Service to make it more efficient over time and to curb some of the financial losses that it suffered.

But when the president lays over that, his own public statements, that the $25 billion Democrats wanted to add that he can withhold that money, that they wouldn't be able to process the mail-in balloting just taints everything that DeJoy is trying to do.

[10:05:06]

In addition to claiming that the drop boxes were not secure and safe, which, of course, history has shown that they are, many states have been routinely using them for years, the question is how much additional use they get this year.

But president even cited fear of COVID, the pandemic that he has failed to control, as suggesting they are not safe, saying they are not COVID-sanitized. That real was an extraordinary statement by the president and, of course, Twitter has flagged that tweet.

SCIUTTO: And I had a Republican member of that committee just a moment ago could not provide any evidence of the fraud that they claim. John Harwood, thanks very much.

Let's go to the hearing now. They are just gaveling in there. We're going to bring you the comments live.

REP. CAROLYN MALONEY (D-NY): To the latest guidance from the House attending physician, all individuals attending this hearing in person must wear a face mask. Members who are not wearing a face mask will not be recognized.

Let me also make a few reminders for those members appearing in person. You will see members and witnesses appearing remotely on the monitor in front of you when you are speaking in what is known in Webex as active speaker view. A timer is visible in the room directly in front of you.

For members appearing remotely, I know you are all familiar with Webex by now, but let me remind everyone of a few points.

First, you will be able to see each person speaking during the hearing, whether they are in person or remote, as long as you have your Webex set to active speaker view. If you have any questions about this, please contact committee staff immediately.

Second, we have a timer that should be visible on your screen when you are in the active speaker with thumbnail. Members who wish to pin the timer to their screens should contact committee staff for assistance.

Third, the House rules require that we see you. So please have your cameras turned on at all times.

Fourth, members appearing remotely who are not recognized should remain muted to minimize background noise and feedback.

Fifth, I will recognize members verbally, but members retain their right to seek recognition verbally in regular order. Members will be recognized in seniority order for questions.

Lastly, if you want to be recognized outside of regular order, you may identify that in several ways. You may use the chat function to send a request. You may send an email to the majority staff or you may unmute your mic to seek recognition.

Obviously, we do not want people talking over each other, so my preference is that members use the chat function or email to facilitate formal verbal recognition. Committee staff will ensure that I am made aware of your request and I will recognize you.

We will begin the hearing in just a moment when they tell me they are ready to begin the live stream.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chairwoman Maloney.

MALONEY: Yes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Point of order. You mentioned the mask. You don't have one on.

MALONEY: Well, I'm talking. If you're talking, you can have your mask off.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I thought your said during questions you had to have it on.

MALONEY: Well, to come in the room you have to have the mask on, as you talk, as you and I know, it's very hard to talk with the mask on. So it can be removed when you're asking questions or --

SCIUTTO: We lost the sound?

MALONEY: The committee will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a recess of the committee at any time. Without objection, the gentlewoman from North Carolina, Ms. Adams, as well as the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Quigley, will be permitted to join the committee and be recognized for questioning the witnesses.

In addition, the gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Walker, will be recognized at the proper time to introduce his constituent.

I now recognize myself for an opening statement.

Good morning. I would like to welcome Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and the chairman of the Postal Board of Governors, Robert Duncan, to this oversight hearing, and I thank you all for being here.

In all of our districts, we are hearing from constituents about significant delays in the delivery of mail, medicines, food and other supplies.

[10:10:03]

These delays are especially concerning and potentially life- threatening during the coronavirus crisis. These are not isolated complaints. They are widespread. Our offices have been receiving thousands of calls and emails about the detrimental effects these delays are having on our veterans, seniors, small businesses and families across the country.

When we asked postal leaders about these delays, they downplayed them. They dismissed them as temporary. They discounted them as minor, unintended consequences of reforms being put in place. But then we saw national headlines describing these delays in much more detail.

I have a document here that it list headlines from almost every state in the country talking about these delays. For example, in my home state of New York, I quote, mail is delayed five to six days in New York City, postal workers union says, end quote.

In Kentucky, Ranking Member Comer's home state, quote, postal services cost-cutting is frustrating Kentuckians and raising election concerns, end quote.

In California, the home state of our vice chairman, Mr. Gomez, quote, like Armageddon, rotting food, dead animals and chaos at postal facilities amid cutbacks, end quote.

This list goes on and on.

Last Friday when Mr. DeJoy was confronted in the Senate with these widespread reports, he said he felt bad about what he called a dip in service. But then after Mr. DeJoy's testimony in the Senate, we obtained an internal Postal Service document entitled PMG briefing. This is a presentation prepared directly for the postmaster general. It is dated almost two weeks ago, August 12th.

According to this document, these delays are not just a dip. This document warns the postmaster general of significant and widespread drops across the board, in first class marketing, periodicals and other categories.

This document shows that these delays are not a myth or conspiracy theory, as some of my colleagues have argued. These steep declines did not start in April or May when the corona crisis hit us, but in July when Mr. DeJoy came on board and began making the changes.

Our entire country is experiencing these delays as a result of Mr. DeJoy's actions, such as his decision to restrict the number of trips from processing plants to delivery units.

Perhaps Mr. DeJoy thought his sweeping changes would not cause any delays. In my opinion, that would be incompetence at best or perhaps this was intentional. Maybe Mr. DeJoy was warned that his changes would cause delays but he disregarded those warnings. That would be extremely reckless in the middle of a global pandemic with less than three months before an important election.

Or perhaps there is a far simpler explanation. Perhaps Mr. DeJoy is just doing exactly what President Trump said he wanted on national television, using the blocking of funds to justify sweeping changes to hobble mail-in voting.

All of these options are bad, but when you install someone as postmaster general after he donates millions of dollars to your campaign, when he rushes to make changes without conducting adequate analysis and when he withholds key information from Congress and doesn't level with us when people begin to ask what in the world is going on.

Given all of this it's not surprising that the Postal Service inspector general has already opened an investigation into Mr. DeJoy's controversial changes.

[10:15:00]

We will be asking Mr. DeJoy some hard questions today. We will also be asking Mr. Duncan, as chairman of the board, about his own role in choosing Mr. DeJoy as postmaster general, about his own role in vetting Mr. DeJoy for conflicts of interest, including Mr. DeJoy's ownership of stock in major Postal Service competitors, and Mr. Duncan's own role in allowing these delays to happen under his watch.

Whatever the cause of these massive delays, the American people want to go back to the way things were. They don't want these changes. They want them reversed. They don't want anyone messing with the post office, and they certainly don't want it politicized. They want to have confidence that their mail, their medicine, their ballots will be delivered on time.

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses, and I now recognize the distinguished ranking member, Mr. Comer, for an opening statement.

REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): Well, thank you, Chairwoman Maloney. I appreciate you calling this hearing today on the United States Postal Service, even though it would have been nice to do so before we actually voted only the bill Saturday.

We all agree that the Postal Service needs to be reformed to better the American people. We all want the Postal Service to be as efficient and effective as possible to ensure Americans receive their prescriptions on time, small businesses thrive and mail-in ballots are delivered in a timely fashion.

But meaningful reform is going to take bipartisanship, something we have seen very little of in the last few days. Democrats fabricated a conspiracy theory about the Postal Service and hastily passed a bill Saturday before hearing from you, Mr. DeJoy. The bill had no prior committee action to vet the bills, no hearings, no markup.

Because of this rushed process, the bill was significantly amended by the Democrats before it went to the Rules Committee. it then proceeded to the House floor under a process that prevented any amendments to the bill. There was no Republican input, not at any step in the process.

Just this morning, we have learned that the U.S. Postal Service opposes the bill that you all passed Saturday. They read the bill and realized that it ties their hands and will make it harder and more expensive to deliver the mail. At least this legislation is consistent with the Obama/Biden years at the Postal Service, more delays, more financial losses.

This chain of events show Democrats are not serious about meaningful reform. The president does not support the bill. The Postal Service does not support the bill. And the Senate will likely not take up the bill. This is a political stunt.

During Saturday's debate, Chairwoman Maloney unveiled a 60-page Powerpoint deck she had received overnight from an apparent whistleblower. Madam Chair, I don't need to remind you that your and Adam Schiff's record with whistleblowers is less than stellar.

The deck is dated August 12th proving it played no role in the creation of your bill, which was unveiled the day before. The deck contains delivery performance data updated since the U.S. Postal Service's third quarter report. It shows some delays in July and August.

I'm very interested to hear from Mr. DeJoy today about what he has learned about the causes of these delays, how much of an effect is the ongoing pandemic and increasing employee sick leave having on the U.S. Postal Service's delivery of performance, how does that compare to any temporary growing pains from efforts to make the Postal Service more efficient and self-sufficient.

I say I'm interested to hear Mr. DeJoy's responses because I do not know the answer to those questions. I don't believe the chairwoman does either. This is why I've repeatedly said, Madam Chairwoman, that this committee is doing things backwards. When we make policy, it's our job to understand why something is happening. How would you find out why? You would have a hearing on the topic with the postmaster general. When would you have this hearing? Certainly before you passed a bill.

Returning to today, let me say that postal issues are something that I've long heard about, a great deal in my rural district. For example, I distinctly remember when the Obama/Biden administration, a mail facility in Paducah was closed, resulting in letters that once took a day to get from point A to point B now taking three or four. And I also heard a lot about Postal Service from a grandmother who spent her entire career 27 years a role mail carrier.

My heart and sympathies go out to our Postal Service families who have lost loved ones during this pandemic.

[10:20:04]

As her grandson and the congressman representing the first district of Kentucky, and as a ranking member of this committee, I want to see the Postal Service return to being a viable institution.

But I'm disappointed at the hysterical frenzy whipped up around this issue by my colleagues on the left and their friends in the media. Let's look at the most often repeated claims again. Does the Postal Service need a bailout in order to survive through November? No. Mail volume has declined but package delivery has shot through the roof, increasing USPS revenue by $1.5 billion. It has nearly $15 billion cash on hand and can operate until at least August of 2021.

Next question, is the postmaster general sabotaging the election but removing blue postal boxes and mail sorting machines? No. The Postal Service has more than adequate capacity to handle the vote by mail. If everybody in the U.S. requests and sends their ballots via mail, that is still less than one day's average volume. The blue boxes and mail sorters were both components of longstanding programs in response to significant reduction in mail volume, 33 percent reduction over the past 15 years.

For reference, under President Obama, approximately 12,000 blue mailboxes were removed and we didn't hear one word from the other side when he did that. The mail sorters were on track to be removed because they were sitting idle, simply taking up floor space for more productive activities. Is the Postal Service telling states they won't be able to deliver ballots on time? No.

What the Postal Service is doing, and has for years, is trying to warn states or the vote by mail laws don't take into account what the Postal Service can and cannot do. USPS can treat ballots as first class mail or better than first class mail but they cannot break the laws of time and space.

The letters that Democrats characterize as threats and propaganda are good faith efforts to prevent weeks of uncertainty and confusion, such as what happened very recently with Chairwoman Maloney's race. And the charges about overtime, those came from an effort to reduce billions of dollars in overtime and extra truck trips the Postal Service spends every year. If overtime and extra truck trips are normal or a normal everyday part of your business operations, it means something is wrong and you better fix it.

On Friday, before the Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing, Mr. DeJoy acknowledged the recent dip in service. He took responsibility for this performance lapse. The logical step is to understand why this happened and come up with a plan. Even though your bill would prevent that, Madam Chairwoman, I hope today helps in that process.

I yield back.

MALONEY: I thank the gentleman for his statement, and I ask unanimous consent to place in the record the service performance measurement postmaster general briefing, an official report from the post office, data, research, facts. And in this report, the facts speak for themselves, and they show that under the first two months of the postmaster general's work, the service fell anywhere from 6 to 10 percent in all the major categories. My bill merely funds the post office and returns it back to the way it was so that the services can get the mail out to the people during a pandemic and before a very important election.

After the pandemic, we can revisit and have other statements and work go forward, but let's not dismantle the services to the American people, the veterans, the seniors. People deserving to get their mail in a timely way. And most districts are having people calling frantically, where is my mail, where is my medications?

So facts speak for themselves. I'm placing this into the record.

I now recognize the distinguished chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, who has done a great deal of work in this area, Mr. Connolly, for an opening statement.

REP. GERRY CONNOLLY (D-VA): Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, and thank you for your leadership. I was proud to co-sponsor your bill that passed the House with 26 Republicans showing the courage to address an emergency with respect to the most esteemed institution of government in America.

We have an obligation, constitutionally, to ensure that something that's been part of the American fabric since 1775 has a future. The Postal Service is not only fighting for its economic survival, it's fighting to maintain 120 years of professional, professional service, rid of rotten patronage systems that served elected officials and not those who rely on mail every day.

[10:25:09]

We're here today to save the Postal Service. We have in front of us a newly appointed postmaster general and the chairman of the Board of Governors that selected him for that post. We have a PMG, who, six weeks into the complex, an awe-inspiring new job in the midst of a global pandemic and just weeks before a consequential national election where the Postal Service will play an unprecedented role decides to announce a sweeping reorganization that he admits could slow down mail. And will undoubtedly infuse uncertainty and confusion throughout the Postal Service and into our neighborhoods all across America.

He announces these and other abysmally unsupported changes without engaging staff, unions, trade organizations, mailers, mail recipients or Congress. In fact, Congress was told Mr. DeJoy did not yet feel prepared to respond to any questions we might have for him. Yet he felt confident enough to freeze overtime, delay mail delivery and announce sweeping reorganizations.

And, Mr. Duncan, congratulations on being the rubber stamp. The Postal Service Board of Governors is required by law to represent the public interests, not the president, not a political party or not even the postmaster general.

Today, the Postal Service employs 650,000 people. It's the foundation from a $1.7 trillion mailing industry that employs another 7.5 million people. But at the turn of the last century, the U.S. Post Office was nothing more than 77,000 patronage positions rife with gross incompetence and often embezzlement of funds.

It was rural America that used its political voice at that time to professionalize the post office. Instead of traveling miles to the closest general store to pick up mail from a sycophantic political hack, rural residents lobbied Congress en masse for rural free delivery, an innovation that brought mail delivery to even the most distant of homes and businesses.

The massive grassroots lobby effort brought those with acumen and expertise into the post office and refocused political leaders and what they were elected to do, serve the people, not their political parties. As a nation, the people transformed the Postal Service -- the post office into the Postal Service.

This history lesson resonates today. Yet another reckoning for this country and the Postal Service, here again, the people of the nation have stood up loudly and consistently to condemn attempts to turn a crown jewel of our federal government by far the most trusted agency among the hundreds that serve this nation into a spoiled systems honey pot. We cannot and must not let that happen.

During this pandemic the Postal Service is a lifeline to the delivery of life-saving prescription medications, medical equipment, food and pantry staples, stimulus checks to pay rent and utility bills, census forms and even simply coupons to help struggling families stay out of poverty.

What leader would think that even the possibility of slowing down mail in a time such as this is a good idea? What leader would take steps to freeze overtime for a workforce literally risk its life every day to deliver mail to the people of this nation? 40,000 postal workers have contracted COVID-19 or have been quarantined because of it, 40,000.

As the new PMG, Mr. DeJoy has recklessly cut hours and delayed delivery times in the pursuit of operational efficiencies. He's never once asked Congress for help despite a team of members ready to provide financial and other support.

The chairwoman and I, along with a collection of hundreds of members, have been fighting to provide the Postal Service with $75 billion in support to pay overtime and hazard costs to the dedicated workforce to invest in a modernized and green postal fleet that doesn't explode, to pay for information technology investments that can streamline communications from trucks and planes that are running late with important cross-county or international mail deliveries.

Mr. DeJoy and Mr. Duncan have failed to work with Congress to get this enacted. Thus far, the passenger service airline industry has received $25 billion in revenue stabilization, the Postal Service, not a dime.

On August 18th, the PMG announced he would put a hold on some of these sweeping operational changes, but his announcement did not commit to reverting the cuts to service and capacity already made.

[10:30:01]

It did not include an agenda to support election mail that demonstrates a commitment to helping the Postal Service fulfill its historic role in the upcoming.

END