justifying the funding we want for testing, tracing, treatment, distancing, etc.? we sayingfication are we need over $50 billion for childcare? we are telling people we have to go to -- they have to go to work. they can't because they have a child who is not going to school. in somee is an answer of those cases. the list goes on, and we have put the justification for it, we do so more intensely as we negotiate an agreement we must have for the american people. again, -- >> we believe this now and take you back live to the u.s. house and debate on the u.s. postal service bill. of january 3, 2019, of the following individual on the house- on the part of the to the health, information,

committee.advisory malek of oakland, california. the speaker pro tempore: the lays before the house the following communication. the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, madam, pursuant 300-jj-12, . section i am pleased to appoint the ollowing individual to the health, information, technology committee. ms. cynthia a. fisher of newton, massachusetts. thank you for your attention to matter. signed, kevin mccarthy, republican leader. for peaker pro tempore: what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york, mrs. maloney, seek recognition? speaker, ey: mr. pursuant to house resolution h.r. 8015, and

sk for its immediate consideration in the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. 8015, a bill to mainta prompt and reliable postal services during the ovid-19 health emergency and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: mr. chair, i ask unanimous consent that -- the speaker pro tempore: the suspend.an will pursuant to house resolution 1092, an amendment in the nature consisting of the text of rules committee rint 116-61, modified by the amendment printed in the house and t 116-480 is adopted, the bill, as amended, is considered as read. the bill, as amended, shall be for two hours equally divided and controlled by the chair and the ranking minority of the committee on oversight. the gentlewoman from new york, maloney, and the gentleman from kentucky, mr. comer, each hour.ontrol one the chair now recognizes the

gentlewoman from new york, mrs. maloney. mrs. maloney: first, mr. chair, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and and insert remarks extraneous material on h.r. 8015. withoutker pro tempore: objection. mrs. maloney: thank you, mr. chair. i yield myself five minutes. rise today in support of the delivering for america act. i also rise in strong support of across e postal workers this nation who are continuing to deliver the mail for the ofrican people in the middle a global pandemic. he postal service is the critical component of america's infrastructure. lifeline of medication, supplies, and mail all americans everywhere they live, especially in this need.f earlier this year, the postal

to help.sked congress they asked us for $25 billion in assistance to help navigate through this crisis. other ke all these industries did. usinesses and entities who received federal funds from congress. this was not a democratic request. from the postal service, and it was supported unanimously governors.d of all of whom were appointed by trump.nt in response to this urgent request, the house acted. said yes. we acted swiftly to help the postal service. voted to include $25 billion in the heroes act, and we passed on may 15. unfortunately, the president agree, and the request has language wished for more than three -- languished for months.n three and now, now we know why.

ecause the president told us why. he admitted on national blocking that he was the $25 billion in order to voting.ail-in that's what he said, and i'd like to read it to you. i quote, they want $25 billion for the post office. need that money in order to make the post office work. so it can take all of these millions of ballots, end quote. does not end t there. postmaster general is using this lack of funding to damaging eeping and changes to postal service seen thes, and we have results. national headlines about delays weeks in mail, veterans desperately waiting for their medications, sorting

machines being ripped out and dumpsters. yesterday, some of my republican colleagues argued at the rules that there are, and i quote, no delays, end quote. right. no delays happening anywhere. that laimed repeatedly there is no data that proves are real.ys ut we have eyes, and we have heard accounts from across this nation from our districts in this nation, in and we have the postmaster general himself who admitted that there are in fact dela delays. hat he feels bad about them, and that he's working feverishly them.ress in addition, this afternoon, we else.omething we have new information. received new internal

postal service documents showing fromnwide performance data july and august. data.al post office these new documents show that heard ays we have all bout are actually far worse than previously expected and told us. across the board. they are across this nation. afternoon, i am making these new documents available to members of the house, and i rge you to review them carefully. and they will be available on debate.r during this the bill we are considering simple. it does two things. irst, it provides the $25 billion the postal service

requested on a bipartisan basis during the coronavirus crisis. returns delivery standards to the way they were postmaster general recently caused all those impact on ch has an the delivery of the ability of vote by mail. issue. not a partisan it makes absolutely no sense to dramatic changes in the middle of a pandemic less than three months before the november elections. want erican people do not nyone messing with the post office. they certainly do not want it to be politicized. their mail.nt they want their medicines. nd they want their mail-in ballots delivered in a timely

way. exactly what our bill does. reserve the i balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york reserves. the gentleman is recognized. >> mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the entleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: thank you, mr. speaker. rise today in opposition to h.r. 8015, the delivering for america act. this is the result of a process only lightly less absurd than the conspiracies, insinuationses and that gave the purported need for it. just this second, the sponsor of has data now she that we can all receive while bill.voting on the i mean, is this data from the whistleblower? with know your record whistleblowers. the process is broken. regardless, we're here debating bill to simultaneously to

hamstring and bail out the service. we had no committee hearings or markups. on monday, we will hear from the postmaster general. after we vote on the bill. no sense. the result is deeply flawed. fauci advised there's no reason americans cannot vote in person, citizens mail must vote by have their ballots delivered in manner. the postmaster general has pledged that is his mission, and before the senate, he pledged ballots would be delivered faster than first without rate increases. but i want to turn now and one one debunk the democrats' conspiracy theories. first, democrats claimed dejoy is removing blue collection to sabotage the election. this is an absurd claim. routine.val process is

he postal service has removed 5,000 boxes over the last 10 years. under president obama, at least 12,000 mailboxes were removed, cried foul then. econd, democrats claim postmaster dejoy is removing mail sorters to slow down the mail. they were slotted to be removed appointment. and mail volume is down 33% over the past 15 years. third democratic claim is that the postal service cannot volume, resulting from the upcoming election. in 2019, the postal service average of 471 day.on pieces of mail each assuming all 158 million registered voters decided to volume mail, the total of requested and mailed ballots would not exceed a typical day total usps mail volume.

democrats claim the postmaster general's pilot rogram in the effort to reduce excessive overtime were intended to sabotage the election. postmaster general testified he never sought to eliminate overtime. instead he sought to get postal operations on time. so there would be less need to rely on overtime and reduce extra mail truck trips. with overtime costs of $1.1 billion in 2018 alone, why wouldn't you try to improve on that? the fifth democrat claim is that the postal service general counsel sent letters to the election boards to intimidate and stoke fears. letters were also sent in may, well before post-master dejoy took over. the post-master has only been in office 60 days. saying what the u.s. service has been saying for years. that some state election boards

have deadlines and requirements that do not consider the reality of postal service operations and logistics and constrains -- constraints. a state allows voters to to request absentee ballots one day before the election why wouldn't the postal service advise there might be a problem. sixth, democrats are acting as created by are dejoy. i have been hearing about delays for years. where there are delays it makes sense to figure out why. and finally the false narrative that the postal service is running out of money and will cease operations before the election. currently the postal service has over $15 billion cash on hand. that's enough to keep it solvent until august 20 21, and enough time for us to do the right thing. like the russia hoax and the impeachment sham, the democrats

are manufactured another scandal for political purposes. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves his time the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: first in response, this is not a democratic conspiracy theory. republican officials from across this country, elected and appointed, have expressed their own concerns about postal delays and the president's comments. i now recognize the gentlelady, eleanor holmes norton from the district of columbia for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from the district of columbia is recognized. ms. norton: i thank my good friend, the chair of the committee, for recognizing me. even during this pandemic with most agencies down we had not heard complaints from the postal service until lieu de-- until louie dejoy was appointed post-master general. on the contrary, our pan -- the

pandemic had not kept our mail from being faithfully delivered. almost immediate leif dejoy assumed office, pan moan yum broke out. for example in ward 8 in my district there was no mail for two weeks and the district and 46 states have been warned by the postal service itself that it cannot guarantee that all mail ballots will arrive in time to be counted. mr. dejoy did not tell the truth at the senate hearing yesterday. we know from a july 15 memorandum directing employees explicitly to leave mail behind d to significantly cut overtime, we know that from an august 7 postal service action that reassigned 23 top executives with decades of

institutional knowledge of postal operations in order to centralize operations in mr. deinjury. --know and will bring out on before this -- this hearing is over today. why the post office continues to be sabotaged and i thank the gentlelady for yielding me the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from the district yields back. the gentlewoman from new york reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: i yield two minutes to the ranking member of the education committee, the gentlewoman from north carolina, dr. foxx. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from next is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank my distinguished colleague from kentucky for yielding. mr. speaker, during my time in this chamber i have two devoted myself to finding the truth and working toward good governance. that requires gathering the facts and exposing the lies. it is in this light that i rise

today to oppose h.r. 8015, the so-called delivering for america act. h.r. 015 aims so solve a made-up crisis by forcing the postal service to double down on the very same activities that have caused to it lose money consistently each year since 2006. then it gives the postal service another $25 billion to lose with no strings attached. mr. speaker, there is no immediate postal service crisis. democrats manufactured this crisis and are using to it create fear and advance their agenda. the postal service currently has $14 billion in cash on hand which is enough to sustain operations through august of 2021. this comes on top of the fact that the postal service has not even touched the $10 billion loan that congress extended to it in the recently passed cares act. the postal service has many long-term problems but there's

no short-term crisis. if democrats were serious about ensuring the longevity of the postal service we'd finally pass bipartisan measures like the postal service reform act of 2017 championed by former representatives meadows and cummings. this bill would keep mailing costs down, encourage innovation and not require additional taxpayer bailouts. our current post-master general dejoy took the job despite being vilified in public. he was unanimously select by the bipartisan u.s. postal service board of governors. because the board saw tremendous value in his decades of experiencing moring and growing a successful nationwide logistics company. he certainly had the qualifications to work with congress and take on the task of postal reform. mr. speaker, we need long-term solutions to fix the long-term problems of the postal service. h.r. 8015 merely aims to score political points on an issue that does not even exist.

i urge my colleagues to vote no on this bill. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from north carolina yields back. the gentleman from kentucky reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i recognize the distinguished chairman of the subcommittee on government operations, jerry connolly from virginia, for three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. connolly: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank and salute my friend, the chairwoman of the full committee, for her leadership and bringing this bill to the floor. we just heard more of the same on the other side of the aisle. denial and disinformation. i find it particularly ironic that my friend from north carolina would cite the unanimous decision of the board of governors. guess what? that same board of governors unanimously recommended the $25 billion you're declining that's in this bill today testimonyst interesting how we cherry pick facts. mr. chairman, mr. speaker, i rise today in support of the

delivering for america act. there is an ongoing and concerted effort to disrupt the timeliness of mail delivery and to erode public confidence in the postal service, all lead, if successful, to the largest voter suppression in american history since jim crow. the effort is being directed by the new post-master general louie dejoy a crony and major donor of the president. a president who opposes mail-in voting for everyone, apparently, but himself and his wife. a president who has called the postal service a joke and a scam. and who threatened to veto the cares act with $2 trillion for desperately kneed assistance all over this country simply to block this funding. on august 18, the post-master general announced, finally, he put a hold on some of the sweeping operational changes that were not only misguided amidst a pandemic but actually eroded public confidence in america's favorite governmental

agency, the post service. nall a day's work apparently for someone unqualified and unfit to begin with for the office he now occupied. by now, we should all know better than to take the administration at its word and despite the post-master's report red treat, the sabotage continues. the post-master is still not advocating for additional funding for the postal service despite the recommendation by his own if board of governors. he's not committed to using overtime as a tool in the pandemic to compensate for 4040 -- for 40,000 postal workers who was had to quarantine or gotten sick. he didn't commit to restoring sorting machines or re-establishing service. that's why this bill would restore the service delivery standards and operations in place before mr. dejoy took office. the post-master's announcement

didn't include an agenda to support election mail that demonstrates a commitment to helping the postal service fulfill its historic role in an upcoming election in a pandemic. that's why this bill will ensure mail is expedited as has been the practice in previous years. and the post-master's announcement didn't explain to the public how an executive could fail so spectacularly and keep his job. we still have work to do because the sabstadge continues. we must restore public confidence in the postal service and its ability to support vote big mail during the worst pan democrat nick 100 years. american democracy demands no less. that's hour history. that's the history mr. dejoy ignored. and that's the awesome responsibility he betrayed. i yealed back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlewoman from new york reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: there's no evidence

of the charge os they have gentleman from virginia. with that, i yield two minutes to my friend and neighbor from kentucky, mr. massie. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. massie: i thank the gentleman from kentucky. in march, speaker pelosi called me a dangerous nuisance for insisting that at least half of congress come back to vote on a $2 trillion bailout bill. this week she called congress into session to vote on a post office bill that's nothing but political posturing. speaker pelosi told us we'd probably be back in august to vote on a p.p.p. bill. what she didn't tell us is that p.p.p. would stand for pelosi's political posturing. let me read a quote from the chief operating officer of the u.s. postal service that might explain what's going on. the decision to consolidate mail processing facilities recognizes the urgent need to reduce the size of the national mail processing network to eliminate costly underutilized infrastructure.

that was chief operating officer under obama and biden. that's from a press release this 2012 when they announced they were closing nine process fag silties in the state of kentucky. in fact, they didn't remove the equipment. they locked the doors and turned out the lights and shut it down forever even in lexington, kentucky, our second biggest city in kentucky. a year earlier they closed down a processing facility in my district. the obama administration did. and o-- obama-biden my mail if i send to it my neighbor goes to charleston, west virginia, before it comes back to kentucky. is it part of a conspiracy? no it's part of a decades long realignment process where the post office is trying to match the needs of consumest to the post office infrastructure. these voter suppression conspiracies who know what is the democrat wills blame next. last month they were blaming the census. this month the post office. probably next month they'll blame amtrak. i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from kentucky reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now recognize for two minutes, stephen lynch of massachusetts, the chair of the subcommittee on national security for the committee on oversight and reform. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. lynch: good afternoon, mr. speaker. as chairman of the subcommittee on national security i want to rise in strong support of h.r. 8015, the delivering for america act. this urgent legislation would reverse the ill-advised changes to mail delivery the new post-master general has implemented to the injury of every american's right to vote and at a serious peril to our democracy. in my own district, in the city of boston and city of brocton, the postal service has removed at least six high capacity mail

sorting ma sheeps in the mail facility in south boston and two more from the postal processing in the city of brocton causing a four to five day delay right now in the city of brocton. why would someone do that 10 days before a congressional primary in massachusetts in the midst of a pandemic when people are being asked to vote by mail in order to keep themselves safe? mr. speaker, i was elected on /11, and as horrific as that day was, i feel proud our nation came together, as americans do difficult times. we mourned our fallen heroes. we tried to comfort their am if and we turned to face our adversary together. republican. looking back, i believe our democracy was less endangered it is today.

two reasons.r first, because we were united we are divided today and we know who divides us. secondly, back then, the threat external. but today, today at this moment, greatest threat to our emocracy is the current administration. i call on my colleagues, stand together. and defend er democracy. defend your own constituents' vote.to i urge my colleagues, vote in 8015.of defend democracy. gone.ll miss it when it's i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. speaker, i yield three minutes to the ranking member of the subcommittee on government operations, the mr. eman from georgia, hice. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized for three minutes. ranking i thank the member and my friend, and i

would just counter by saying, democracyst threat to in the country is the current majority in the house of representatives. herewe're doing even right today, what we're doing right now, we haven't even had a hearing on this. to have a hearing on monday for something we're today.on absolute political malpractice is what we're watching right here. even debate this? why don't we go ahead and have a ote and then debate it, that's the same issue what we're doing right now. my democrat friends over here president as though he's involved in voter suppression. listen, the real issue -- we to talk about voter suppression. we want to talk about influencing the vote. own speaker pelosi just a little while ago had a press onference in which she was touting 100 days ago the heroes act passed. what she did not say what was in heroes act. forbidding states from having voter i.d. we're going to have universal

mail-in ballots, no voter i.d. have ballot o harvesting across the country so we have no purging of votes. just going to send out millions of ballots, millions of among which deceased people are there, folks who have sent ballots just being out all over the place. that thereby no -- there will be i.d.'s required, and yet, all these ballots, somebody is going to vote for and send them back in. about political malpractice. and the chairwoman herself ought stand up and t to testify of the disaster of her took over six at weeks or thereabouts to get the esults because these mail-in ballots kept coming and coming and coming. thousands of which were thrown out. for lawsuits in your chair.ction, madam just absolute insanity what and it'sng here to me, a representation of why people

re so disgusted with washington. we talk about the delays ain th mail service. n april of this year we had a briefing, not a hearing, a briefing to inform us of the going to be --re that were going to be brought about in the postal service due to covid. that's happening. we have thousands of poster workers who are not working because of covid. also have great delays, wouldn't you not agree, in like like portland, chicago. of course, there are incredible delays. to even ared to death deliver the mail in cities like this. place like come to a postal bail out the service $25 billion that postmaster general himself says need with $14 billion to $15 billion cash on hand, billion waited if needed in the treasury. this is absolutely unneeded. and yet, this bill is going to

give an additional $25 billion any reforms. i see my time has expired. urge my colleagues to vote against this and i yield back. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the yields.n the gentleman from kentucky reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. maloney: the other side kept claiming that there was no ata about the slowdown in the mail. absolutely none. well, this new report, this data shows a 10% decline in service 1 after the new postmaster general came into ffice and implemented a slowdown of the mail. i now recognize the from guished member illinois, cheri bustos, for one minute. rs. bustos: thank you. i rise in support of the delivering for america act. post office is a lifeline to rural communities. in the n 1,000 people district that i serve have written to my office desperate

service.he postal a disabled veteran, who depends on the post office to deliver a small g medication, business owner who needs the post office to deliver her efficient and ost-effective way so she can feed her family. seniors who must self-isolate because they are at high risk, servicend on the postal for the supplies they need each and every day. the postal service is more than a service. part of who we are. what as a in peoria, he child waiting for the decoder come in the mail. for heather, it's a care pack old -- package of old family photos. for joseph it's a letter from afghanistan.nd in birth certificates, college acceptance letters, the mortgage the postal service delivers the american dream. we cannot let it fail. thank you. back.d the speaker pro tempore: the

gentlewoman from new york reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the chief deputy whip, the gentleman from ferguson.r. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. ferguson: thank you, mr. speaker. first, like to wish my mother birthday. happy birthday, mom. wish i was there to celebrate with you but instead i'm in d.c. voting on a senseless bill that as designed strictly for political purposes and will put your beloved grandchildren further into debt. now, i have watched my other side of he the aisle come up with some intellectually dishonest stuff past. seen it happen more times than i can count, but this effort takes the cake. look at postmaster general dejoy said when he testified before the senate last week and clearly addressed the litany of the baseless claims. irst of all, he stated that no reforms will be -- would be mplemented between now and election. ov overtime haept been cut. cut.sn't been

and united states postal service reform. the drop box will be ceased. mayor of d when i was my hometown and my hometown was furious about it then. i wish my colleagues on the ther side of the aisle have found religion about this issue ack then instead of sitting back up whatever color to paint he fire hydrants while rome burned. this bill costs $25 billion additional. $25 billion. postmaster said $13 billion cash on hand. another $10 billion in loans probably won't need. i want someone to explain to me to spend $25 ng billion between now and november. we know how this place works. unauthorized appropriation, we all know that before you spend money here you plan, and i a haven't seen one. and then that plan's got to be commented on hen and reviewed again. and then one more time it's probably got to be reviewed. then there is the whole procurement process, bid process

checks ment, background on new employees, the lawsuits on the procurement process interests special groups said they weren't notified in time so they could get preferential treatment on government contract. and surely, surely there will be environmental reviews. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. comer: mr. speaker, i yield seconds. mr. ferguson: surely there will be the customary environmental done to understand the impact on the spotted blue tail dillo being run over by -- by new o being run over post office trucks. this bill is a sham. we are piling up money. it on the well put national mall. have a bonfire. nvite americans to bring their lawn chairs and a cooler of beer to watch the bonfire so they can firsthand how this place wastes money. i urge a no vote and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the yields.n the gentleman from kentucky reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is

recognized. mrs. maloney: the other side of double standard. congress provided hundreds of sortsns of dollars to all of industries, businesses, large the mall, entities across country to help them cope with he coronavirus crisis, and we did not require them to come forward with detailed plans of ow they are going to spend their money. but they want it for the postal service. service made a public request, and they requested it and presented it to the board of governors who are appointed by president trump and board approved it unanimously. that is far more than all these entities that we've given billions of dollars to did. the postalld support service now. it, the c.b.o. came out with an estimate that this money would be spent in the next fiscal year and that they need it and i ask unanimous

c.b.o. record the into the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. i now loney: and recognize the distinguished mfuma. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> i heard remarks that can't go unaddressed. to say that eman democrats, the majority party ere in the house, are the greatest threat to american democracy that the world has known, that means we are more threatening than putin and he russians, more threatening this terrible pandemic, this is something i would side to say from the other side. mfume: we are here to have discussion and to reasonably

disagree on things and at the forof the day we're calling a vote as we normally do. things are voted up. things are voted down, but that the process that i have come to know overall these years. e are here because americans who are democrats and republicans and independents are time.tting their mail on we're here because there's been 10% slowdown in the last 66 days. we're here because sorting dismantled atbeen an accelerated rate, not a norm at an accelerated rate across america. we're here because mailboxes being density are snatched. they're being removed over the ears, du has accelerated and it's accelerated to such an exte extent that now people are wondering, where is their where is their checks. it's veterans, it's small hampered who are before this, it's senior citizens. we are not here mysteriously on to point fingers and call names.

the other side has a right to disagree, but this is a problem. about your constituents, but all of mine re telling me that they can't get their mail on time. they expect more. postmaster irst general looked back at this day, i'm sure ben franklin would be spinning in his grave. an issue before us. we ought to go at it with vigorous debate. may e end of the day, i lose, you may win, i may win and you may lose, but the american without us standing up for this issue. the speaker pro tempore: the reserves.n the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: mr. speaker, obviously the last speaker, the maryland, missed the part where one of his members proclaimed that the the greatest threat to democracy. but with that, mr. speaker, i two minutes to the oversight, national security ranking member, the gentleman mr. grothman., the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. you.rothman: thank a very interesting debate today. i think it would be a great

debate to be reviewed by every olitical science class in the country as we analyze how us in a $25 put trillion debt. we have a situation today in hich the u.s. post office is sitting on $15 billion. they have the right to borrow billion from the stimulus package bill we passed earlier. this re making more money year than last year because delivery of packages are up. numbers, e all these e have decided to spend or the majority party has decided to spend an additional $25 billion. post office.he i really do. but when you have an agency that can spend $25 billion that's unspent right now, $25 billion, you introduce a bill to say they need another $25 billion for that don't vote $25 billion bill it means you don't want children to get little toys they're going to in the mail or it means we don't like the post office,

that's outlandish. other things you can look at as well. you can look -- talk about post offices. in the first three years in trump has dent complete control of the administration, they will be getting rid of less post office than obama from 2013 to i don't know the numbers before 2013. it might be four years in a row. greatest year president trump got rid of mailboxes. evener thing to point out, if every single person in this country votes absentee, which it will only increase mail that month by 1.5%. we have no crisis. it is something they can handle. the idea we are talking about spending another $25 billion today is indicative of why this country is going to wind up spending itself into oblivion. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now recognize the distinguished chair of the democratic caucus, congressman hakim jeffries, from the great state of new york. mr. jeffries: i thank -- the speaker pro tempore: how much time? mrs. maloney: one minute. mr. jeffries: i thank the distinguished chair for yielding and her tremendous leadership. the post office is as american as motherhood, baseball, and apple pie. it is the only-- one of the only entities actually mentioned in the united states constitution. it has been around for hundreds of years. the first postmaster general was dr. ben franklin. it is part of the heart and soul of this country. and the attacks on the post office by the trump administration are shameful. the american people deserve a postal service that delivers social security checks to senior citizens. delivers medicine to disainled

veterans -- disabled veterans. delivers unemployment insurance checks to displaced americans. and delivers ballots to those who choose to vote by mail in the midst of a deadly pandemic because no american should ever have to choose between their health, safety, and well-being on the one hand, and the constitutional right to vote on the other. that is why we need a fully functional postal service. don't mess with uspa. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: could you tell me the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky has 43 1/2 minutes. mr. comer: thank you. i yield two minutes to another oversight committee ranking member, the gentleman from texas, mr. cloud. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. cloud: thank you, mr. comer. mr. speaker, you will never hear me complain about having to come to washington to vote. after all, it is an honor to

serve the people of this great nation and our constitutional obligation to be here present to vote on the issues facing america. so the question today, are the issues that need to be addressed in the united states postal service? there certainly are. we all know there are. after all the usps has been on the government accountability's high-risk list since the beginning of the obama-biden administration. the systematic issues are not nufmente they did not creep up in the last few weeks since the new postmaster has been in office. they have been here for a while. if we are trying to address issues, there is room for discussion. the late chairman elijah cummings and the how white house chief of staff mark meadows had a bill that had serious effort put into it. tomorrow we'll have a hearing with the postmaster to discuss the build we are arguing today. the white house has offered $10 billion package, which the speaker has rejected. there are option it is we want to address the real issues. today's not about a serious effort. today's effort is yet another smokescreen.

another conspiracy theory forced on the american people to distract us from the real problems facing the american people. to distract from the speaker's unwillingness to work with the white house to protect schools, hospitals, and small businesses. to small .p.e. to businesses. the heartbreaking violence and destruction in our cities and streets. the american people are tired of this. tired of lurching from one manufactured crisis to another. tired of leadership by fear mongering. tired of this house preferring to campaign on issues rather than fix them. the bill offered today will not save the usps or provide for long-term sustainability. today's effort is another attempt to mask the fact that this house under this leadership is doing very little for the american people. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: it is now my pleasure to introduce another member of the committee on oversight and reform, the distinguished lady from

florida, debbie wasserman schultz, congresswoman wasserman schultz, for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for two minutes. ms. wasserman schultz: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the gentlelady for yielding. i rise to support the delivering for america act. to protect the pillar of our democracy and fortify a lifeline so many americans count on. this bill would provide urgently needed postal service funding and leaders. -- we know the motto neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. no one foresaw any american president would willingly crowbar our mail system to sway an election. the deliver for america act will safeguard our democracy from any presidential subversion. this legislation will also allow our mail carriers to do their job by ensuring overtime and proper equipment are available t will make sure intentional service delays are avoided so our seniors get their social security checks and prescriptions. it defends our veterans who

reply on the postal system to deliver their medicine. my state, florida, just completed a primary where nearly 60% of the counted ballots arrived by mail. savvy seniors and residents wanted the safety that only mail-in balloting provided. this year our country saw half a million primary ballots rejected, and the main reason they get tossed is due to postal delays? these brave flinte workers are delivering goods amid a pandemic and it's taken a toll on their work force. when a state like florida known for its razor thin presidential elections, we can't afford to have 59 sorting machines left on the sidelines. blocking postal employees from overtime is not an option. especially when it may hold up hundreds of ballots to decide the presidency. the delivering for america act helps defend our democracy from hypocrisy of a president who casts mail ballots himself one day then tries to meddle in our neighbor's mailbox the next. don't mess with the usps, pass this good bill.

the speaker pro tempore: members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities against the president. the gentlewoman from reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to another great member of the oversight committee, the gentleman from ohio, mr. gibbs. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. gibbs: once again my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are pulling the wool over american people's eyes. we are here today not to debate or conduct public policy for the benefit of the nation, we are here so they can form a political theater. if you have any doubt about that, monday this coming monday, the oversight committee is having a hearing with the postmaster general about this same issue. we are voting first. then we are having hearings? i think that's is backwards. my colleagues on the left are faking outrage over made-up crisis to score points during an election. the united states postal service is under no greater stress than it was before the coronavirus pandemic. and well before this election cycle. the facts have been laid out by

experts, by independent journalists, regular citizens who do the job, the mainstream media refuses to do. rather than find out and report what's really going on, we have mainstream media parroting speaker pelosi's conspiracy theory. here are the facts. the post office is solvent for most of 2021 and be able to operate in the 2020 election. they have $15 billion cash on hand. they have a $10 fwl line of credit they have not used. if every single american voted by mail this cycle, it would be as little as one quarter of the mail the post office handles daily. you have heard a lot about sorting machines. the first class mail has tapered off and packages volume has increased. efficiency standards serve better. during the five year span of the obama administration 14,000 blue collection boxes were removed from the streets. twice during election years the obama administration row posed funding cuts to the post office. where was the outrage then? relocating collection boxes where they are more useful is

commonsense not conspiracy. postmaster dejoy testified and come out publicly said they are not going to do any more cost cutting measures before the election. what the other side wants is universal mail voting not absentee voting. universal mail voting would mail out ballots to anybody and who knows who it will be. they are sewing the -- sowing the seeds if the election doesn't go their way. you won't hear any of these facts -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. gibbs: mr. speaker, i ask for 30 additional seconds. joip the gentleman virginia tech. mr. gibbs: this bill provides the funding already there and creating and pedaling this conspiracy theory is irresponsible and reckless. at the time russia and china are meddling in our elections, we don't need help from congress pedaling fake news. this is one news that needs to be labeled return to the sender.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now recognize the distinguished chair of the transportation and infrastructure committee from oregon. congressman peter defazio, for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. defazio: see this mask? what does it stay? united states postal service. not business. service. for every american. no matter how remote they live they can get mail. they can get their prescriptions, they can have a small business in powers, oregon, pretty remote from everything and use the postal service. you can't have it bothwayings, guys, the postal service doesn't have a problem. wait a minute. dejoy is making these cuts because he says it has a revenue problem. he's prohibited overtime because they have a revenue problem. they can't move their delivery vehicle more than four times on a route. eight-mile long route? you going to walk two miles each way? guess what, mail is getting delayed across the country.

the fact is, before a pandemic they were breaking even or making money if we did away with the stupid prefunding of 75 years of health care that was put in in the dark of the night by the bim in a lame duck congress. and 309 people in this house, including 87 republicans, voted for that in february, but it hasn't happened. you can't have it both ways. his is no -- the mail is being delayed. miss lawrie she cares for a blind elderly veteran. i ordered the v.a. refills for him. they were so late arriving we had to ration out his most important medication from two pills a day to one when the prescription arrived. miss trudy, eugene, oregon, my husband's a vietnam war veteran. his meds are delivered by mail. i love my husband. i want him to get the meds. last year the postal service delivered 125 million v.a. prescriptions on time.

but somehow with the efficiency measures and the cuts, which i guess they don't need to make but he's making because of the financial crisis, they can't deliver v.a. meds on time. they can't deliver prescription drugs for seniors. and many other americans who are required by their insurance plan to get their meds through the mail with just in time deliverry, which isn't happening. you cannot deny those things. why are they happening? how are you going to fix it? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. defazio: talk about how we are going -- the speaker pro tempore: the entleman's time has expired. members are reminded to direct their remarks to the chair. the gentlewoman reserves. gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: i yield two minutes to another great member of the oversight and reform committee, the gentleman from south carolina, mr. norman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. norman: mr. speaker, i rise today to apologize to the american taxpayers for this total sham of a process that

the democrats and this leadership are trying to spread. they've got continue -- continue to have trump derangement syndrome. here are the questions i would ask my democrat colleagues. if the democrats are so concerned, then why have we not had a hearing about the postal service issues since june 15 of 2019? if the democrats are so concerned, why have we not had round-the-clock meetings to discuss a bill that we intend to fund the $25 billion which is being proposed? we have been out of session for 17% of the time since march 15. why haven't we been called back in to discuss? if you do the math on $25 billion, we have 70 days left. that's roughly $325 million per day. you tell the american taxpayer where you are spending that money. you tell the american taxpayer how we are going to come up with it. you tell the american taxpayer

this is like dropping money from a helicopter. if the democrats are so concerned about the, -- the post office, why are we having the vote today when the postmaster general is appearing at a hearing on monday? this is like determining the score of a football game then playing the game on monday. it makes no sense. they have no interest, the democrats have no interest in hearing the testimony of mr. dejoy. the only thing they want to do is berate and not give the postmaster general the opportunity to answer. just like they did attorney general barr, which was a disgrace to this country. the taxpayers deserve better. the democrats will have no discussion on the spying of the president since 2016. the democrats have no explanation of a failed mueller report. the democrats have no explanation for the impeachment of the president. the post office will fail as

well. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: mr. chair, i would like to correct for the record that the committee on oversight and reform had a briefing on postal on april 9, 2020, right after the covid crisis struck us with the postmaster general. i now recognize another great member of the committee from illinois, congresswoman kelly. . the speaker pro tempore: for how much time? mrs. maloney: two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. with my y: i stand creeks shock and dismayed by the actions of this administration. oversightst year, the committee has worked in a bipartisan fashion to modernize former al service with rep mark meadows leading the charge. things over many the past 3 1/2 minutes, mail has become partisan. pillar al service is a

of our democracy. it's essential for providing ritical services, like lifesaving prescriptions, social security benefits, paychecks, ax returns, letters from military families, and absentee allots to millions of americans. the v.a. delivers prescriptions to 80% of our veterans via the mail. ridiculous onal and slowdown means vets are skipping empty hile checking boxes. while i was back home, one of my businesses told me they haven't for 10 days. another person told me they received mail every other day. cannot go on, and we cannot trust the word of a postmaster is undwaquan find and unqualified and who and disrupts the upcoming elections. we must pass this bill so we can the united states post office to normal and ensure we have a safe election where

counted.is i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields. the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: mr. speaker, i have to comment on what the hairwoman said about the briefings. a briefing is not a committee hearing. no a briefing, there's notice requirements. oftentimes, we in the beginning weren't allowed to have there are no transcripts so there is a big difference between a briefing and committee hearing. speaker, i yield two minutes to another member of the oversight and reform committee, the gentleman from keller.ania, mr. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. keller: thank you, mr. speaker. the needday to discuss reformningful, long-term service..s. postal in u.sps has lost $78 billion the last 13 years. in 2009, the government accountability office published placing u.s. ps on high-risk on the

list. the financial state of the usps progressively worsened due to the declining mail volume, debt.ities and proposals to give the usps $25 in cash without serious reforms will not address the that the l issues agency faces. the proposals before us today delay real reform and throw taxpayer dollars at a problem forward.lear vision rather than politicizing the mail, we should be working to this -- the usps longevity through the comprehensive reforms. to fix a n trying problem by simply spending more taxpayer money, we should be reforms to equip our nation's outstanding postal the tools they need and deserve to continue mail.ring the this is the only way we will ensure that americans continue service e this vital

without interruption. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now recognize the virgin islands, another outstanding member of the representative stacey plaskett. for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for two minutes. you, madam : thank chair. thank you, mr. speaker. today, we vote on a bill that attack on the u.s. postal service. y doing so, we are blocking an attack on an american institution, on our american way on democracy. to the unanimous request of the trump appointed board of governors for funding billion and restoring operations to january 1 levels, saving literally be lives. the necessity of this vote, the ecessity of this legislation

operil to our democracy that this administration has put us in. vote.sinesses, our we will go further than just voting and we will have that hearing on monday on the versight committee, led by chairwoman maloney, to speak with the postmaster general to some of his, shall we say, creative decisions. e want to examine the operational and organizational changes at the postal service delivery resulted in delays across the country, including the delays of goods and services for small and families as well as critical medicines. n my district of the virgin islands, we are hostage to the u.s. postal service. big box drive to stores. never mind medicines for our elders or our veterans. of ill review the impact these changes on the rights of theirle americans to cast vote through the mail in the november elections. but we will also have a few for mr. dejoy.ns is mr. dejoy thinking about that

their who won't receive medication on time due to his policies? about the veteran who served our nation and can't get their prescriptions to heal? he considered rural americans who have to drive 20 iles to the nearest post office? has he thought about any of these people, or is he, like the only concerned about his own self-interests? i yield back. the peaker pro tempore: gentlewoman reserves. kentucky.man from membe members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the president. again, that ship has sailed. mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to another valuable member of oversight and reform committee, the gentleman from north dakota, mr. armstrong. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. you, mr. rong: thank speaker. if there is a bill that more accurately reflects the failure democratic leadership for my first two years in congress, i don't know what it is. to ow that because i came congress knowing of the problems with the postal service. 'm the only republican on the

oversight committee who co-sponsored democrats' bill to prefunding -- prefunding of their pensions. i've been working on this and about this and care about it for a very long time. i supported former chairman mark meadows' bipartisan solution to the post office because i represent a state. and privatization is bad for my constituents. you know how important this has committee? oversight our last full hearing on the ostal service was in april of 2019. but somehow we have decided that the previous postmaster general, who was appointed in 2015, and didn't resign until did something unique in this town -- made sure just her. everybody hated but now we are saying this all blew up last week. well, it didn't, and i know it because you can google postal problems in any jurisdiction from one end to other and y to the you know they've existed before. but instead, we will come to the

a bill, offered -- sponsored by the chair of the jurisdiction. we will vote on it today, and then we will have a hearing on monday about the bill. before we even talk about the fact that we're giving $25 illion to an organization that already has $25 billion cash on hand, and regardless of how you about this, $25 billion does not deliver votes and we ability to do this, we are doing this in a way that is political and utterly theater. because anybody who's been paying attention knows that the ost office problems are chronic, they're not acute, they've lost $70 billion since and they lost $9 billion in 2019. so my question is, why haven't been -- haven't had hearings in oversight for the two years i've been here? back.hat i yield the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. rs. maloney: i would like to respond to the gentleman's tatement that the money is not

needed. the postal service sought the $25 billion from congress to critical relief. nd that request was supported the mously by a vote, by board of governors who were all appointed by president trump. nd yesterday, we received the report from the nonpartisan congressional budget office, and that report estimates that the vast majority of this funding needed within e fiscal year 2021 to provide to the american public. this should be a nonpartisan i recognizeith that the distinguished chairwoman of he committee on financial services from california, my representative maxine waters. the speaker pro tempore: for how much time? mrs. maloney: two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the entlewoman is recognized for two minutes. ms. waters: thank you very much, mr. speaker. and members, i ran to the floor

heard that our members on the republican side of the aisle an excuse to use as we have not had a hearing. oh, yes, you have had a hearing. ou've had a hearing from the american people that are shocked that the president and dejoy are there dismantling and destroying our postal service. warned the ars, i american people and my colleagues that this president our democracy. yet, here we are today voting on the postal save service because it is being sabotaged by a desperate in order to cheat in the 2020 election. founding, ountry's the people have relied on the postal service, everything from letters, our seniors have wanted their medicines delivered on time, veterans want disability checks on time, social security recipients want money.d their so i want to say to the members n the opposite side of the

aisle, you'd better get some courage. if you're afraid of the better step up to the plate on this. we will not allow the united postal service to be destroyed by you. and another message to the stop removing our blue mailboxes from our neighborhoods. yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the president. to address their remarks towards the chair. the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: mr. speaker, ms. forgets that president obama removed 12,000 of those asked xes that she just that they quit removing. with that, mr. speaker, i yield minutes to the gentleman from arkansas, mr. westerman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. westerman: mr. speaker, i rise today in support of rontline, essential rural mail carriers and postal workers across my district and america who have continued to go to work

do their jobs during the pandemic. this is in sharp contrast to across thecolleagues aisle who draw a paycheck but don't show up to vote or do jobs. mr. speaker, i also stand in becauseon to h.r. 8015, it's a sham bill that has no future. it doesn't belong on this floor. belongs in the archives at month ction hoax of the club. how the democrats keep a straight face when proposing $25 bailout disguised as election integrity when it would equal about $200 per ballot if every voter voted by mail. preposterous. with its current over $14 access cash on hand and to $10 billion from the cares act, do we even have to keep united states postal service is in more than adequate financial position to fully functional well election?

no. the american people are smarter than democrats give us credit. believe most see past the smoke and mirrors. post office is important. it's not going anywhere. and this bill has nothing to do with a fair election. and i king member participated in a youth organization. and at the beginning of each leader would ask, why are we here? many of us are asking that question today. are we here? the answer is, because this house is adrift. house is a ship without a rutter. vision. it -- it lacks vision. lacks s direction and it leadership. and fro.assed to it has been throughout this whole congress. time when america has needs back on an economy track, this is the best they can

do. hope.democrats offer no we need change. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. reserves.man the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: why are we here? president because the of the united states went on national television on thursday night and said he was going to the post office. that's why we're here. said, he didn't support mail-in voting. hen we know that millions of americans will want to vote for health reasons by mail. here. why we're we're here because we wrote numerous letters to the general, which he ignored. that's why we're here. democratic e leadership for calling us in for this emergency meeting to make that the post office is funded. hadas funded before we even a constitution. it's one of the pillars of our democracy. enshrined in our onstitution, and it provides

vital services to americans with conduct ns, ability to business, to stay in touch. it binds us together as a nation. of us do not like the fwakt that the -- fact that the would nt of our country even mention defunding the post office. that is why we're here. two minutes to -- three minutes to the very istinguished member of our committee, representative brenda lawrence from michigan. she brings valuable experience former member of the postal service. you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized the gentlewoman is recognized for three minutes. mrs. lawrence: thank you very much. my chairwoman for yielding. mr. speaker, i rise today in strong support of 8015. . this is eexception legislation to offset the dangerous actions taken by the postmaster general over the last two months. we are here today in addition to that to fund the postal

service. for more than two centuries the united states postal service has delivered mail to every house in america. across this country. every single home. it is the only federal organization that touches every american every single day, six days a week. confirming that it is an essential government service. today the current administration and the new postmaster general seem to struggle to understand that the postal service is an essential government service authorized by the constitution. it is not a business to find the bottom line. in just the first two months of his tenure, two months, without having any postal experience, this postmaster general has threatened and has taken actions to undermine decades of precedent within the postal service. today congress must act. as my chairwoman said, that is

why we are here. we must act. the delivering for america act does just that. along with providing the postal service with desperately needed, $25 billion to offset evenue that has been forgone due to covid-19. it also, this is something that's very important, this legislation prohibits the postmaster general from making any operational changes that will undermine the postal service's ability to fulfill its mission. its mission is to deliver the mail. neither rain, sleet, snow, doom of night. the postal service will deliver the mail. but we have a postmaster general who comes inside and tries to rip it apart from the inside. we will say cease and desist. in addition to us having the goal of the postal service to deliver the mail, our democracy is hinging upon them doing that basic job. i stand here today to say that

the money was asked for by the board of governors, which by the way, appointed by the president, which by the way are all republicans, who asked for that money to be appropriated. and the postmaster general approved and said he needed that money as well. i want to thank the speaker for bringing this critical legislation to the floor. i want to thank my chairwoman for including a part -- language that i want that will prohibit the enactment of any rule, standard, or policy with the intent to deliver the mail from our government. we have a real responsibility here today. it's not a member on either side of the aisle who have not received a letter from our constituents. let's do our job. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: out of utmost respect for my friend, the chairwoman of the oversight and reform committee, but i believe she misspoke. she said the president wanted to defund the postal service. that's not what the president

wants to do. the only time i have heard the word defund lately was by the liberal progressive wing of the majority party who wants to defund the police. so with that, mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from alabama, mr. palmer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. palmer: thank you, mr. speaker. we are here today because my democrat colleagues have create add conspiratorial crisis out of thin air in another attempt to dupe americans with an election hoax. only this time instead of russia it's the united states postal service. democrats are intentionally misleading people to believe that the operational changes at the postal service, including the removal of mailboxes and antiquated processing equipment, just started. that's a lie. nonetheless, postal service officials have confirmed that these operational changes, some of which were agreed to by democrat members, have already been halted until after the election. in regard to the delay and delivery of mail over the last few weeks, the national numbers

cited may well reflect delays in cities that have been under siege by anarchists. i would direct my colleagues and the american people's attention to these photos of the burned out postal service in minneapolis. there's no way to know how many letters to loved ones were lost or birthday cards or gifts or family heir looms or decoder ring that kid had been waiting for were key destroyed and will never be delivered. i'm certain because of the lawlessness that the democrats are dangerously silent about, the delivery of mail in portland, seattle, chicago, new york, and minneapolis and other sities -- cities have been delayed. if you want to talk defunding. instead of democratic mayors defunding the police, i think we need to make sure law enforcement in every american city are well funded so they can protect not just the post office if silts that handle our mail but people who deliver our mail so there are cards, letters, and gifts and election

ballots can be delivered. so instead of pushing a conspiracy for us, we should be here making sure that law enforcement has the resources needed to protect the property and lives of american families in these cities under siege. that will help make sure the mail is delivered on time. and people will feel safe in getting it from their mailbox or the post office n that regard the silence of the democrats in this chamber is deafening. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now recognize the distinguished chairman of the ways and means committee for two minutes, representative richard neal from massachusetts. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. neal: first let me thank chairwoman maloney for her good work on this very issue. i rise to condemn postmaster general dejoy's assault on the u.s. postal service. the organizational and operational changes he has been implementing are a betrayal at this moment of the american people. they are turning their backs on seniors and veterans in

pittsfield, north adams, springfield, and south bridge who rely upon the postal service for their medications and other essential services. the postmaster general is dismantling a lifeline for people in every community across the commonwealth, but his actions particularly harm those who live in some of the most rural areas in western massachusetts. these mail delays and disruptions will be harlful at any time, but they are down right deadly during this pandemic. families and small businesses are desperate-l trying to stay safe and afloat as the crisis rages on and the postal service play as critical role in their survival. who else suffers due to the postmaster general's actions? the hardworking men and women who process and deliver our mail, essential workers. he's proadvising jobs for generations that have been a pathway to the middle class, particularly in marginalized communities. our nation's economy and the people's health rely upon the postal service. so, too, does american democratcy.

millions will use this indefensible tool to cast their ballots this year. they should not be discouraged, they should be edge couraged by the postmaster general. the postmaster general is directly attacking the fundamental rights and well-being of all americans. i call upon him to step down now. his approval is urgently needed as are all provisions in delivering for america act. i strongly support this legislation and call on my colleagues to do the same. a reminder, his support right now is urgently needed to reverse what he's been doing and saying. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comber: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from ohio, mr. jordan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. jordan: i thank the gentleman for yielding. the democrats talk about a slight delay in mail delivery the last several weeks. well, of course. would you want to deliver mail in portland today? city that's been under siege for 90-some days? i bet there's delays in

portland, seattle, minneapolis, chicago, new york, i he bet that's where the delays are. in fact how do you deliver mail to a chop zone? how do you do that? they wouldn't let them in. come on, we know the facts are the facts. the postal service has more money today than they had this time last year. they got $14 billion cash reserves. they have a $10 billion line of credit we gave them in the cares act. the postmaster general is moving some sorting machines and removing some mail collection boxes. the same thing every postmaster general has always done. in fact, between 2011, 2016 the obama-biden administration removed 12,000 mail collection boxes. oh, my goodness. it's happening again. we are moving some boxes. somehow that's a -- that's a reason to give $25 billion to the postal service and create all this conspiracy theory that what -- not my words, the "wall street journal" called it that that the democrats are doing. what's really going on here?

do you really want to focus on some concerns the post office has. we have a bipartisan bill bill that the late chairman cummings and mark meadows worked on. mark meadows. i don't even think -- i know the chairwoman hasn't talked to him about this. the expert on this issue on our side, oh, by the way, he happens to have a pretty important job in this town. pretty important job. you guys didn't even talk to him. they had a bipartisan bill. if you want to work on bipartisan concerns and solutions to some problems, that's fine. that's not what this is about. that is not what this is about. this is all about politics. you don't want to address real issues. too busy defunding the police. too busy not denouncing the mob that's running so many of our cities. this is all about politics. first it was the russia collusion. this committee was the michael cohen hearing. i remember that. when he came first big hearing of this congress. first announced witness of this committee. came and lied to us seven

times. then it was the mueller report. then it was the ukraine fake impeachment. and now it's the white house is putting mailbox in cages and whatever you are saying now. the american people see this for what it is. they see this for what it is. you want real solutions we can have had them. you could have worked with chief of staff meadows. you didn't want to do that. you wanted politics. if anyone should know it should be the chairwoman of this committee who had to wait six weeks after the election day to get the results of her election. imagine what the democrats want to do, throw live ballots out there to everyone, that was just one primary, congressional primary election, imamin what they want to do 150 billion ballots. that's what the democrats want. imagine what that's going to be like. that's where these guys want to go. we should work on real solutions. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. jordan: instead of this charade. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now recognize an outstanding member of the committee, the vice chair of the committee on oversight and reform, representative jimmy gomez from california. the speaker pro tempore: for how much time? mrs. maloney: two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. gomez: someone is lying, mr. speaker. on one side you have the white house and postmaster general. on the other side you have the hardworking men and women of the u.s. postal service. the president and the postmaster general say there's nothing to see here. nothing to see. they tell us that their operational changes are meant to help the postal service. the postal service workers whose job it is to deliver the mail day in and day out are saying something different. they are telling us that they are falling behind on processing packages because of these operational changes. and as a result, they are seeing bugs and rodents swarming around containers of rotten food and meat and

animals. now my republican colleagues say that this is a conspiracy theory. but i say to them, you can't smell a conspiracy theory. there is dying animals, rotten food, rotten meat, rats, flies. you can't see that in a conspiracy theory. i want them to open their eyes because their constituents, my constituents are suffering because of this deliberate attempt to sabotage the u.s. postal service. and their constituents, seniors and veterans who depend on fast delivery of their medicines. the small businesses who depend on the u.s. postal service to stay afloat. and every american who wants to partake in our democracy safely during this pandemic. mr. speaker, i can tell you which side i believe. the employees of the u.s. postal service. it is with them in mind that i strongly support the passage of h.r. 8015, the delivering for america act. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves.

the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comber: mr. speaker, i yield one minute to the gentleman from california, the republican leader, mr. mccarthy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. carthy: sorry, speaker. couldn't hear you. i urge everyone to be calm. the polls is not incapacitated. -- postal service is not incapacitated. it is still worthy of delivering mail. those are not my words, those aren't even words of republican. they are the words of ruth goldway, a democrat, former postal commissioner, and clinton appointee who served for 18 years under three presidents. based on the facts she says the postal service is perfectly capable of handling election

mail. unfortunately, we have bad news for her. this majority didn't get the message. instead of listening to the experts or following the facts, democrats are wasting precious time spreading speaker pelosi's mailbox myths. . to have n opportunity bipartisanship. i heard words on this floored oday, mr. speaker, essential, critical that we are here. i applaud the few democrats on the other side who are willing show. i know if you cannot make it paperworkhave to sign that your health will not allow you to be here. the speaker's bringing us back a saturday because it's so ritical to be here right now, this moment, in this time. ne-third on the other side either thinks otherwise. now, let's go through some of versus facts. myth number one -- the postal

sabotaged.being the postal service is properly for the election and beyond. we said it many times here, it's through mpletely august, 2021. postal ccording to the service. long-term service has challenges. but they predate anything about administration. tojed.t being be a -- sabotaged. removing mailboxes is uncommon for alarm.e it's shocking we have country this up onrs putting instagram we need to be back here saturday. but little did we know during obama-biden years more than 12,000 mailboxes were removed from communities. rush into a d we saturday to have a bill that you up, to 1/3 ofrked

the democrats who would not show. the postal service is actually constantly moving mailboxes from growth areas.lume kind of a smart thing to do. cases, they replace them with more modern versions. saw a picture where they actually had a lock in the front. you have town hall meetings. of mail gets stolen. so they were protecting the packages but still allowing you letter in. this isn't voter suppression. it's routine maintenance. three -- postal service doesn't have the absenteeto handle more ballots. 471 ostal service delivers million pieces of mail on an day.ge little known fact, people mail every single year. with all the advancements we put n the postal service, with the technology of our own life, do

ou know what equals of what year this 471 million? 1985.the exact we did in but we do it different than 1985. we have more technology. of that, the postmaster general actually the capacity with its no uncertain terms to the senate yesterday. the postal service released this. if all americans vote by mail, ballots, over the course of this election, it 75% of what they deliver in a single day. mr. i don't want to claim, speaker, all the democrats think myth.s not a maybe that's why 1/3 didn't show today. i'm not sure. was bad. their health i'm not sure that's the case either. even "the new york times" isn't the house democrats' obvious untruths. s it was reported earlier this month, experts agree that the postal service has the raw

apacity to absorb the additional ballots even if 150 million people decided to vote mail. myth number four -- the democrats' legislation will make fiscally service sustainable. ou are not fixing any of the fundamentals. you're not even taking the bill on with a ent years republican and a democrat, with lijah cummings and mark meadows. two who will say come from ifferent walks of life, from a philosophy, but found common ground when it came to the post office. what lly fix the core of the problems are, but that's not today.re here so as the democrats perpetuate stunt, political unfortunately, their serious goes unmet. priority.ws real this week, we learned that 71%

of small businesses have their protection loan. they spent it all. anticipate they will need more financial support over the next 12 months. wasn't critical enough to be here. because these are real people real families. hey don't expect miracles from us, but they do expect us to at least care. of rtunately, not one piece legislation, this so-called emergency session, is about the future. or their nor are we working to protect the vaccine research and support operation warp speed. nope. house democrats are doing what last two ne for the years -- they're putting politics before people. month, speaker pelosi said to us, we can't go home until relief package is complete. i guess we know that's not true. wants to keep her word this time as well.

this guess we'll go home saturday. good news for 1/3 of the democrats. to go anywhere. they're already home. her liberal not get wish list, she sent members home. guess good news for some americans. those who stayed home and vote, they still got paid. but those small businesses that are running out, that we're here this body right now that we can do something about, those on unemployment we can do something you have the majority. we don't. we are not allowed to bring it to the floor. can. but you picked a crisis of funded.g that's already you can't spend the money you want to give them. why? ecause they got $14 billion sitting in the bank and another from.llion they can pull but the small businesses don't. the families that can't pay rent, they don't. vaccine?bout the

something this week. you had the shadow voting scheme. permission toself vote from home until october 2. bet.peaker, i'll take a i'll make a bet on this floor right now, and maybe even a prediction. gets extended again and probably goes a few days election in november. who would like to take that bet with me? thatuch do you want to get extended all the way through? what does that mean to the people? well, it means the majority party and democrats have cast 2,520 votes and counting from home. unconstitutional. it doesn't matter. t's such a big crisis that we're called back. there's plenty of room on the side.on the other it means a democrat member can

vote.n from his boat to i'm not making that up. that actually happened. means another democrat can play hooky to go watch a space launch that's not even in his own district. it means democrats collect a while the hardworking americans have to pay for their vacation. 68 y, it means that democrats, 1/3 of their caucus, didn't even care enough to show p for this so-called emergency session. it's critical. it. heard you say we cannot wait. day.nnot wait one we need to be here and now. now, i believe that's true, but about the post office. but about those millions of that need us, need us act. very time we brought legislation to this floor dealing with the covid

situation, it seems to me the able to hold it up. i don't know. maybe you want to try to hold it up past the election. seems to me that would be playing politics. me that would be a dir dereliction of duty. it's not how you empower the people in washington. it. how you dilute this is leadership malpractice. this is shameful, and this is embarrassing. speaker, our first postmaster general that i've franklin, of, ben could have been talking about lostmajority when he said, time is never found again. as a majority, democrats have distractioncused on than solutions for the american people. weakness, most partisan history,nt in american to politicizing the pandemic and stopping relief for american spreading a now debunk conspiracy theory about a

postal service. democrats have failed the american public. it failed the laid off workers, who amilies, the students are waiting for help. the small businesses, the doctors, the nurses that are help.g for the researchers, the scientists ho are developing a vaccine, they're waiting for help. but you have not failed veryone, because this majority said, no. they did, however, say yes to china. a few weeks just a bill to was sanction anyone who would hack and to our panies institutions, who are working on than ever aster before that would only slow it down to save lives. opportunity to tell those countries, work with us, us.t steal from but your voice was heard loud clear. all the democrats showed up that

day. 2/3 of you voted no on the same day that it was that two chinese were hacking in to our vaccine. said. what you i heard the majority leader said it was an m.t.r. was.it why? because you don't give us an amendment. why was it an m.t.r.? because at the time it was essential, it was critical, it was reported on that day. you could act that day. to act.try needed us but you said no. up for the chinese that day. the chinese what communist party has on the democrats, mr. speaker, but it powerful. it must be so powerful. know there are bills in the senate that passed that wouldled ho them accountable -- that but hold them accountable they can't come to the floor. i heard the reports from the

f.b.i. that they're playing in they do have, that a person they want to win, to but new person in office, that's not critical to you. come critical that we oday to provide $25 billion to an organization that republicans democrats that commissioners said they do not need. need it? they they looked at their bank account because they have $14 billion. them cares act we gave another $10 billion to sit there. they do not need because they said they could deliver every mail.of there would be only 75% what they do in a single day. but mr. speaker, i do not want to say all the democrats feel way. because 1/3 of them didn't show up for work today. their own leader, the speaker, said they needed to come. when we passed on

this floor something different haven't done in more than 230 years, to let somebody on a boat, call in and still get paid, said you that.not do you could only do it if your at need.s i quite sure a hospital is on a boat in a lake but to be.crats it must they won't vote on a bill that i proposed to sanction chinese hackers who attack our research. i'm not sure that's partisan. thought that was pure american. americans.lp working it won't help protect our vaccines. stood that day proudly in supporting of the party. communist i'm sorry, mr. speaker.

vision's too great for a so small with our challenges before us. showed up. but you know why we showed up? for the small businesses, we showed up for those unemployed, we showed up those school districts that want to find a way to open safely. e showed up for the doctors, the nurses. i know. up on the board, there will be a lot of democrat votes. 1/3 't know where those are. maybe they're on the boat. a be they're watching spaceship. i'm not sure. oprah.ome are watching but one thing i do know, it's essential that we're here, but here for other reasons. we should be here for the reasons that the american public us to. do so much we can better.

this country needs us. we should rise to the occasion, for a vision so small is what i see today. back.d the speaker pro tempore: members are reminded to address their remarks to the chair. . mrs. maloney: oy now yield one minute to the distinguished majority leader, congressman steny hoyer, from maryland. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentlelady for yielding. i had not necessarily intended to speak after the minority leader but cannot help to respond to respond to what the minority leader had to say. first of all, he practices the president's favorite tactic, distract, speak about that which is not relevant. all the democrats are voting.

they may be voting at that machine or that machine over there or voting at that machine or may be voting at that machine back there or may end up voting by proxy, which you didn't like and the minority leader sued and the court said it's up to the house to decide its own rules. en we passed the heroes' act 100 days ago tomorrow, what did the minority leader say? let's wait and see what happens. and what has happened since then? thousands, tens of thousands of and e have gotten sick thousands and thousands of people have died in those days. let's wait and see. and what did the majority leader, who could put a bill on

the floor, what did he say? et the states go bankrupt. mr. speaker, there has been a lot of talk about pu bring this bill, that bill or the other bill, the senate is controlled by your party, i tell my minority friends in the house. they haven't passed a single bill in 70 days, in 100 days. not a single bill. why? because they would have to compromise. and you say we need to bring things to the floor. the minority leader had a man named garland from february to january, when obama was the president of the united states and refused to consider it. you think there is a founding

father that thought advice and consent meant they could ignore the president's nominations? i think not. some people talk about, oh, there are very important things to do. one of them, the gentlelady from 84,631 deaths -- since heroes passed. let's wait. no action in the republican-controlled and led united states senate. don't whine to me about what you want on the floor. don't whine to me about we could have done that, this and the other. i was talking to the chief of staff at the white house and i kidded him and said you know,

when you were here in the house and had republican leadership and they offered solutions, you undermind them. who said so? john boehner said so. you have the opportunity to make a deal. now we control the house and very frankly the majority leader cannot pass a bill because 20 of your members in the united states senate want to do nothing and just tell the people who are suffering, who have unemployment and don't have child care, you are on your own. i have heard all this talk about what we could have done. do it. do it. nancy pelosi and secretary .nuchin got four deals done

most of you voted for them. and they passed overwhelmingly in a bipartisan fashion. a knew made a decision, nope, no more. now we have it speculated if we don't take action and have a much morrow bus and plan for dealing with covid-19, which we don't have and haven't had, because this president called it a hoax. you don't have to respond to hoaxes. that's what he called it, a hoax. and of course, if it's a hoax, you don't respond, and he didn't. and c.d.c. it may be up to 200,000 by the end of this year. still you have passed no bill in

the united states. we sent a bill over there. you don't like it, that's fine. pass your own. you control the senate. pass your own, and then we'll go to conference. and see which bill is better or maybe we'll put them together. but what has the senate majority ader done, he reduced the $1 trillion down to $500 bill quon which the governor my state said is only sufficient to help the states because they are hemorrhaging revenue and on the front lines of responding to this crisis. now others of you have said, this is a thing, this is not real. madam chair, will you yield for a question? have you spoken about the report that you just released from the postmaster germ's advice?

have you done that? >> the speaker pro tempore: yes i have. mr. hoyer: the new documents released by the committee today are part of the p.m.g. briefing. we hope he reads his briefings. the president said he doesn't read his briefings, so he doesn't know about the russian payments to kill american soldiers and has not responded to that date. the new documents being released by the committee are today, a presentation prepared directly for the postmaster germ last week on august 12. nine days ago. they provide a detailed assessment of performance trends over the past year. my friend from ohio, oh, this is a problem, this is a fraud. maybe he didn't read the p.m.g.

advisory. according to these documents, there have been a significant drop in service standards beginning in july, first class, marketing and first class and priority mail. postmaster general has never admitted to the sweeping delays and service caused. he said we feel bad in what the dip in the level of service has been. so he knows there was a dip in service right after he made these changes. now what do we know? he is a big supporter of the president, gave money to the president. secondly, we know he was appointed by the essentially, elected by the board of governors, all elected by president trump who asked for the $25 billion we are talking about. we know that the president of

the united states wants to suppress the vote. why? he said so. he said so. first meeting i had with the president of the united states with republican leaders and democratic leaders just shortly after he was inaugurated, he said i got the majority of the votes. in it hadn't been fraud and all those people who voted illegally, i would have gotten the majority votes. he only got 62 million, 70 million voted for somebody else and the majority of the people voted for hillary clinton. i challenge one of you to name me two members of the electoral college in 2016. you can't do it. the american people voted for hillary clinton. the president of the united

states wants to send -- maybe with no name tags and just sort of brown suits on, to the polls of america. never in my life, and i have run probably for office more times than anybody here but don young. ver have i seen armed troops there at the polls to intimidate people. my state checks for fraud. and by the way, all those fraudulent votes that donald trump said had been cast, not a conviction. he controls the justice department, he controls backmably the f.b.i. going to what i said about this crisis that was occurring that you say doesn't exist in the post office

. on january 15, 2013, we voted for a crisis, 50 million americans living in the northeast had been saveraged by superstorm sandy -- savaged by superstorm sand. you were in charge, only 49 of ms. not mr. meadows, not foxx, 49 voted for that bill and 178 voted no. no crisis. 50 million americans, superstorm sandy, people being flooded out of their businesses and their homes. no crisis. my suggestion is, wherever you are and you came here and you can vote in person, isn't that wonderful, i think your vote

would count, but your leadership has said, don't worry about the 86,000 people who have died. the minority leader said the crisis is gone. i don't know where he thinks it went. shortly visiting the neighborhoods in my state and -- so the report says the mail has substantially gone down since the postmaster general aiding and abetting the president in the united states wish to suppress the vote. now, i don't know how many read 18 u.s. code 1703, but it says whoever being a postal service officer or employee and says other secrets, did he tains, mail ys, whoever delays

which was intended to be conveyed by mail, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years or both. now i had a press conference with senator warner, senator van llen and six other members including eleanor holmes norton, one of the chairs. five minutes before we held that conference, the postmaster general said he was going to stop doing what he was doing. i guess it's because he thought, what i'm doing is great, everybody will support what i'm doing. or did he think, i got my hand caught in the cookie jar and i better stop? what do you think is the most

rational determination that he issued this before he issued the release. that he thought it was fine, he could on defend it and why in heaven's name did he change his mind? why? because he knew what he did was wrong and read that briefing and service plummetted since he took the action and he was putting the mail, prescription drugs, social security checks, eterans' checks at risk. that seems to be the logical conclusion. and as the law says, if you act and you delay the mail, you commit a crime subject to five years in jail and a substantial fine. madam speaker, i want to thank

you for your leadership. postmaster germ attempted to back down to set the postal service for fail tur just moments before we were supposed to speak before the postal headquarters right down the street and in his testimony yesterday, he indicated that he and president trump are simply hitting pause. they don't care about the service that the postmaster germ's report said, they just hit pause. why? because they are hoping that it will go away, that the wrongdoing that they are perpetrating, not what was done in the past, that yes, we should make service efficient and effective, we should. that is not why this was done and look at the president's statement that he wanted to suppress the vote, particularly

of minorities. more blacks voted in the last election. what did he say? . . postmaster general indicated no additional changes would be implemented. he's not going to back up. even though his reports says service.nishing why? he can pause all he wants, but don't give the post office department the tools with which to do the job, no matter says about voting by mail, i am glad to make sure first class mail treatment -- as matter of fact, there should be super first class. voting for president of the united states has got to be the a citizen ant thing does in this election year. it ought to be treated as such by the postal department. ven after three months, president trump and senate republicans continue to refuse to take action on heroes act. about that. that's why congress needs to take action now that will ensure

will continuevice to deliver to america through this pandemic, just as it's reliably did for our public. millions obtain medications, receive paychecks and access vital service. in rural services particular, the postal service -- that's the irony -- the ural communities, postal service is probably even important. this year in particular, it will crucial role the postal service in help tens of millions f americans stay safe from covid-19. 86,000 americans have died since heroes act.e you think there's some false. seems to ty leader think, oh, people not coming to congress, not wanting to get on not want to come to washington, d.c. and go home and have to sequester themselves for 4 days, oh, they're just playing games.

if you got the validity of their vote, say so. but whether i cast it far over or near here, it's the same vote. it's my vote. people's voice. so angry from americans across political spectrum that trump and postmaster general dejoy sabotage people rom casting their vote by the mail. the president said he wanted to suppress the vote. up. not make it he said so. by the way, he votes by mail, of course. you all understand that. i don't know that he sends an votes.rd down when he maybe ought to check on that. cards.interested in i.d. let's see if the president of the united states sends an i.d. florida. to they employ tactics such as

overtime pay, reassigni reassigning experienced managers, etc., etc., etc. to public pressure -- maybe you guys don't have a open.tuent office and gals over there. but every one of my members, tell me they're hearing people.usands of their congress, therefore, must take action to prevent them from minds and ging their causing massive postal delays in ahead.ks remember, he said he's just elayed his changes, which caused the fall in service. delivering for america act, what the postal department has done since before adopted.itution was i'm not going to through what it will require. require.what it will but it would particularly require -- and i'm so pleased, madam chair, that you included your bill first class

reatment, because voting is first class priority in america. ow, i'm going to close with this. so many of you said, this bill's pass.ing to you're wasting your time. ou shouldn't send it over there. if we did that, we wouldn't do anything unless the president do it.u can and then we would salute and sir, we're going to do it. but if you don't want it, sir, fisa -- 126 want voted for fisa -- but if you change it it we'll within 24 hours, which is what you did. then, again, we wouldn't have sent campaign finance reform over there because it.nnell hasn't considered we wouldn't have sent investment n infrastructure and jobs, which mcconnell has not put on the floor.

we wouldn't have centre storing ensuring lgbt r equality or ensure equal pay for hasn't cause mcconnell put equal pay for women on the floor. for ring background checks safer communities. there are only 90% of americans so i can r that understand why mcconnell said, look, they're 10% against it. to put it on the floor. for consideration. haven't gotten noticed, you haven't been included in the committee, etc. cconnell doesn't allow anybody to vote. leader. meeting the challenge of climate hange, of course, you guys -- many of you don't believe climate change is real. i understand that. roviding for justice in policing. did we send it over there? why? because we want a fair, more equal, more racially conscious nation. conscious in the sense we don't judge people on

skin.lor of their we strength a-- strengthened an a.c.a. in a pandemic would be helpful. floor.the pension, hasn't been put on the floor. ou tell me, oh, this can't pass. it can't pass perhaps because the president of the united states tells you that he's not it. and so it doesn't pass. closing -- and i know many thank god -- in say, vote for this bill. democrats. you ought to vote for it for your people. for the people in your rural counting ods who are on the postal department to bring that prescription drug, maintain ritical to their health or save their

lives. theought to vote for it for person, over one million getting ocial security checks in the mail. that's why you ought to vote for it. us.for and you ought to vote for it ecause you want everybody to vote. you want everybody to democracy. in this you want an election that, like so many other countries, has 80% people participating. the 86,001 nt to be who dies because they went to and aggregated together and got covid-19. that's what this is about. our people able to their pate safely in democracy. vote for this bill. partisan bill. it's a bill that says republicans ought to be safe in voting. ought to be safe in

voting. independents ought to be safe in voting. to hat's what they choose do. this is a good bill. america's for democracy. it's a bill for making sure our people are connected through the mail. i thank the chair for bringing it to the floor. vote yes. urge a yes vote for all members and yield back the time.e of my the speaker pro tempore: members are reminded to refrain in in personalities toward the president and to direct their remarks to the chair. reserves.woman the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: may inquire about left?ch time we have the peaker pro tempore: gentleman from kentucky has 25 minutes. the gentlewoman from new york has 24 minutes. mr. comer: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from ohio, mr. latta. latta: i thank my friend, the ranking member, for yielding. mr. speaker, i rise in this bill, which has not gone through regular

order. t was put together in response to misinformation and conspiracies online. closure of the toledo, ohio, processing plant in 2012, northwest ohio has been sent to the metroplex processing michigan.n as my constituents can attest, his new arrangement has not worked. we have experienced countless lost mail troyed and for years, including, including 1,000 absentee ballots election.6 general hat is why i have continuously engaged with the usps to get they have and committed to me to implement procedures for election ohio.als in unfortunately, under h.r. 8015, prohibited ld be from making any changes to their

operation if it's determined the changes would impede prompt, reliable, and efficient services. doesn't specifically say who will be making this determination, so it's safe to will be the unelected bureaucrats, individuals who the me for years that preferred way to sort mail would be through the metroplex. legally, bill could legally prohibit absentee in ots from being processed ohio base sorting facilities. in new conscious to support this democrat political threatens ecause it the rights of my constituents' right to be heard in november. speaker, i urge a no vote on this legislation. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now yield three to the distinguished

majority whip from the great tate of south carolina, representative jim clyburn. tempore: the o gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. clyburn: thank you, madam speaker. for nk the gentlelady yielding me the time. madam speaker, i rise today in support of h.r. 8015, delivering america act. this legislation is vital to rotecting the united states postal service. i maintain that the post office s the thread that holds the fabric of our great country together. postal service existed before our nation's constitution. lifeline that connected far-flungi far-flung communities. founders believed so strongly in the importance of the post office that they in our d it constitution. the post office provides a ritical public service that we cannot allow to become a potential political pawn for the dysfunctional, disruptive, and i

are say, disastrous administration. this administration has why strated time and again government should not be run business. businesses exist to make profits. the post office and the whole of our government exists to provide services. called the it is ostal service, not the postal corporation. today, we are acting to reinforce our postal service vital which provides services, like delivering edications, social security enefits, income and tax payments, veterans' benefits, assistance forms, and absentee to all american communities, however remote they be. americans depend on the -- on -- dependence on

the postal service has increased during this pandemic, as we on-time delivery of mail decrease significantly. provides the on covid lion in emergency funding to the postal service hat was unanimously requested by the bipartisan board of governors. it also prohibits and even rolls by the post made office since january 1 of this year. prohibition lasts through the end 2021, or until of the pandemic, whichever is later. that means, no post office can e closed, consolidated, or reduced hours. no prohibition or restriction of overtime pay. no changes that will delay mail increase the volume of undelivered mail.

removal of post office infrastructure, like sorting mailboxes. this legislation protects the our democracy by requiring that all election mail as first class, which eans ballots must be postmarked, processed, and that d on the same day they are received. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky. mr. comer: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from arizona, mr. biggs. the speaker pro tempore: jarninged. mr. biggs: i thank the ranking member and i ask unanimous consent to submit two articles from periodicals into the record. the postal service is delivering the mail securely and on time.

that was the testimony of the postmaster germ but you don't trust the postmaster general. takes care of over four million pieces of mail every day. you don't trust him because you are going to give him an additional $25 billion. you don't trust him but going to give him $25 billion when he has $$15 billion cash on hand. we don't trust this guy and give him $25 billion extra. moreover, moreover, this is a crisis. we want reforms, we want changes and don't trust the current postmaster and proscribe any kind of efforts to make the postal service work better and we are going to stop that. and not om stop that, but give a cause of action, new cause of

action to trial lawyers against the usps. that's what's going on in this bill. i find that intriguing. unesco and e of talking theater of the absurd here. that's what we're talking about. democrats call this a crisis but prohibit reforms and changes. think of the irony of that. this illustrates the democrats' overarching thing, if you send money, it will solve the problem, even if there is no real problem. this is not a money issue. this is not an acute issue. this is a long-term problem that has been there for multiple administrations. now to come in at the last minute -- and here's part --

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. biggs: this is rich -- mr. comer: may i yield 30 more seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman has 30 seconds. mr. biggs: here is the richest part of this irony. we are going to vote on this bill today and have a hearing on monday in the committee. that is the richest of the absurdity that is going to cost us $25 billion, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the jam arizona yields. the gentleman from new york. mrs. maloney: there is no cause of action in this bill and doesn't hinder any efficiency that would speed up the mail but stops any action that slows down the mail until the end of this pandemic. i now recognize for two minutes an extremely valuable member of the committee, representative pressley from massachusetts. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentlewoman from massachusetts is recognized for two minutes. ms. pressley: i rise today to say enough. a blatant attempt to suppress the vote, the occupant attacks the legitimacy of the elections he and his family have used mail-in ballots. hypocrisy which should look to my colleagues across the aisle and say the sham here is the patriotismism that you allege to espouse and stand by and complicit in the dismantling of the you united states postal service, disrupting services. patriotismism. they hire more veterans than anyone else. veterans rely on them to receive lifesaving medication. enough with the criminal corruptness mismanagement. the changes he has brought to our postal service are brazen

acts of sabotage and to delay mail delivery, this is a hell of way to put postal workers and are worried about the impact on services and fear for their livelihoods for the causes they have made to all of our offices. how dare you. while the trump administration and its allies to gaslight the american people, we listen to our constituents and how it has disrupted their lives. what you are referring to as fake news. constituents, who waited for two weeks from a client to arrive. and post office delays means i have less assurance for the money i worked for or another requested an absentee ballot so he and his pregnant wife can

vote and in the massachusetts 7th congressional district, nine mail sorting machines have been removed. it is time to pass the delivery for america act. the speaker pro tempore: members are reminded to address their remarks through the chair. the gentlelady yields. the gentleman from kentucky yields. mr. comer: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr. williams. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. williams: i rise in opposition to h.r. 8015 and the manufactured crisis that my democratic colleagues have created. the american people have been told they cannot trust the postal service can do their job and that could not be further from the truth. the postal service has more than enough funding to operate and have not even acted upon the loan the treasury offered back

in july. the sad truth is if the postal service has been financially unsustainable and without reform for over a decade and the bill today will do nothing to improve the shortfalls p with this agency. we should be working together to address certain problems we have while being conscious of the taxpayer dollars that have been used for bailouts over the years. madam speaker, i have a rural district in texas and we rely upon the postal service that my constituents would otherwise go without. we should dedicate time to help this but there is an actual crisis among us that should be demanded that we take immediate attention. in the car business, you can't charge sticker price if you don't have a vehicle delivered and don't sell used cars that don't start.

we aren't delivering results today. the crisis is caused by the covid-19 pandemic. main street america and families across texas are wanting results. but my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would ignore this truth and politicize a conspiracy theory. if my colleagues are serious about postal reform, let's get to work. but the legislation before us isn't the answer and frankly a waste of time. i should be home with my family and my grandchildren. as we say in texas, we say this dog won't hont. let me tell you, this dog won't hunt. and let's make the postal service run like a business. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i yield two minutes to another great member of the committee, representative tlaib. ms. tlaib: do you hear that?

that's our democracy crumbling. i want all of my neighbors and america to know why the people's house is here for an emergency vote while senator leader mcconnell went on vacation. our u.s. postal service is under attack. let it be clear, this administration is waging an authoritarian campaign to sabotage this election by manipulating the election to suppress our vote and maligning people in the process. this is not a conspiracy theory. this is fascism. we will not stand for this now or ever. in michigan, right now, machines sorting 35,000 pieces of mail per hour have disappeared from post alpha silts. brave workers are blowing the whistle and saying they haven't

seen anything like this. i say to the white house, hands off the united states postal service. let's make it clear through this law to fund our postal service and undo these harmful attacks. i yield. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from michigan yields back. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. comer: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from north. mr. bishop: this unserious legislation, even all the yelling across the aisle and straying off topic, they underscore a contrast, democrats whip up hysteria, republicans show up to work. you call a saturday session, supposedly because of emergency. republicans are here but about 70 democrats don't show up and been the pattern all summer. republicans come to work. democrats dial it in sometimes

from the fishing boat. you say the virus keeps you from congregating to work but you encourage the wrong outside the postmaster's residence and representative grijalva not at work today. you can congregate to whip up hysteria but just not to work. louis dejoy is showing up to work. estifying yesterday, he calmly debunked about the blue boxes and sorting machines. mopped he will testify but democrats fan hysteria today without waiting for facts even though they don't show up. let's drop the hysteria and show up to work. hem cans yield our help. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now recognize

for 1.5 minutes, representative sarbanes from maryland. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland is recognized for 1.5 minutes. mr. sarbanes: i thank the chair woman of the committee and i support this bill strongly. i want to speak to what the postmaster general admitted yesterday. he called it a dip in service. he timely admitted that. i want to tell you what the dip looks like in my district. o, in all of 2019, our constituent service folks in over 11 cases to deal with delays and service problems with the mail. 11 cases in 2019. so far this year, 106 -- now i'm not talking about people just calling in and complaining, because the mail is late and then they hang up the phone and

so forth, this is where they got real concerns about what is happening. 106 this year compared with 11 last year and 103 of those in the last four weeks. that's not a dip in service. that's a collapse of service. and it tracks exactly the time that louis dejoy has been on the job. and here's what's so terrible. when you attack the postal service from within, which is what he is doing, it has the effect of trying to separate the postal workers that trust them. people have a favorable opinion of the postal service. that's what this legislation does. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: i yield 30 seconds to

the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. fitzpatrick. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds. mr. fitzpatrick: thank you for yielding. i stand today with the letter carriers and postal workers of the united states postal service. it must be funded so my constituents can receive can receive the timely service that the post office has provided of us. i will vote in favor. republicans and democrats must come together and address the serious challenges that usps has been facing for quite some time now. i look forward to work with my colleagues on bipartisan solutions to move all of our heroes forward and support our heroes at the postal service. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now recognize distinguished vice chair of our

clark. katherine ms. clark: 9 days ago we provided much needed relief to the american people suffering. what was the reaction from the g.o.p. a slug? d first responders and teachers, mitch mcconnell said let them go bankrupt. e said let's -- fund for hospitals and death tolls soar over 100,000? donald trump said it is what it is. unemployment and eviction protection, not right now. and many may we also funded the post office, a critical service enshrined in our constitution. a lifeline to seniors and veterans like john who called from my hometown who had to wait an extra week to get his

medication. it's a pillar of our democracy, allowing people to vote safely from home this fall. we are here today to defend this institution from slow delivery, the -- slow delivery, the removal of critical infrastructure. 12 sorting machines in my home state have been removed. when asked about this, mr. dejoy said he -- they weren't need. donnell trump said he didn't want those ridiculous ballots delivered. we will not stand by while the post office is dismantled -- dismantled and millions of jobs are lost. vote yes for the postal service, vote yes for the people, vote yes for democracy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: i yield two and a half minutes to the gentleman from utah, mr. curtis. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. curtis -- two and a half

minutes. mr. curtis: likemark i followed allegations surrounding the postal service. i spoke directly to utah's postal leadership. as i asked questions and waded through rumors, i learned several facts. first, the postal service needs additional funding. how much is debatable, but it has no bearing on their ability to handle upcoming mail-in ballots. they have enough cash on hand to operate well into 2021. second, the increased demand in mail-in ballots does not stretch their capacity. mail-in ballots will increase demand on the system by a little over 1.5%. in the words of utah's district director, not even a bump in volume. the day i spoke to him, utah's mail delivery system was

500,000 letters under capacity. third the allegation that they're removing boxes and cutting overtime to thwart mail-in ballots is not true. boxes have been always been moved to adjust to demand. likewise rumors that overtime is being cut so mail-in ballots will be delayed is false. i confirmed this with utah's district director. in his words, never in my career have we left mail undelivered buzz of overtime. fourth, concerns with mail-in balloting have everything to do with state preparedness, not the postal service. states who allow ballots to be requested just four days before the election should be held responsible. mail-in ballots take listeninger to count, delays can be expected but not because of the postal service. not sure who to believe? ask your mail carrier.

ask them if there's anything less than 100% effort given by them to deliver mail-in ballots and all mail and then make sure to thank them. i'm grateful to the men and women who work so hard to deliver mail every day. we need a strong and vibrant postal service but this bill does not deliver. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields, the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i yield one minute to the distinguished chair they have committee on health, ms. eshoo of california. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. eshoo: thank you, madam speaker. thank you to the distinguished chairwoman of the committee. i'm here to speak on behalf of the postal service now country. i'm here today because i view it as a democratic institution in our country. i'm here today because the framers placed it in the

constitution. i'm here today because my constituents are not receiving their prescription drugs. businesses are not receiving their mail. people are not receiving their mail. i'm here today to speak on their behalf because they are outraged. they're outraged about two things that have happened. that the president has said and attacked mail-in votes. guess how votes are counted? they're carried by the mail service. and the post-master general, instead of building it up, is dismantling it. it's over the top to see pictures of postal boxes being unhinged. vote for the delivering for america act. the people deserve it.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: i yield three minutes to the gentleman from louisiana, the republican whip, mr. scalise. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. scalise: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman from kentucky for yielding. when you think about why we're here on a saturday, i would think if we're being brought here on a saturday in the middle of a pandemic it's to help the millions of families who are struggling madam speaker. i would think if we're going to come here on a saturday it would be to help the millions of small business, the restaurants in south louisiana and new orleans that don't know if they're going to open again because of where we are right now. in this pandemic you would think that's what we would be here for. but instead, madam speaker, why are we here? for a fabricated crisis. "the wall street journal," nancy pelosi goes politically postal. congress ought to be embarrassed by this evidence-free conspiracy theory.

"the new york times." i was a postal service regulators for 18 year. don't pan the service perfectly capable of handling election mail. that was a bill clinton-era appointee. then you look at, again this fabricated crisis that oh my gosh there are mailboxes being closed. let's look at the record. during the obama-biden year, mailboxesyear, 11,560 removed. where were the hearings for that? where were the saturday votes to decry that they were closing mailboxs? it never happened because it's not a real crisis. even the post-master general just testified yesterday, quote, the postal service is fully capable and committed to delivering the nation's election mail fully and on time. that's post-master general. if you would have listened to him, i know there's a hearing monday, maybe if you would have waited to see what he actually

said monday in this committee, you would have known that this is a fabricated crisis, but you knew that before. madam speaker, they knew this was a fabricated crisis. in fact, when we talk about the money, oh my gosh, the post office is going to run out of munn. the problem is the facts decry even that. they've got a surplus of over $12 billion sitting in the bank today an then they've got, this is the department of treasury, madam speaker a $10 billion line of credit they can't even access because they've got too much money in the bank right now. imagine small businesses, watch option a saturday, because they can't open, they're not even sure if they'll be in business next week because they have no business in the bank and they're weiring about this crisis, congress coming in on a saturday, then they find out the post office has over $12 billion in the bank, they have access to a line of credit of $10 billion from treasury that they can't get to because they've got too much money in the bank. right now it's here. this is the letter from treasury.

it's so important, madam speaker, that 68 democrats chose not even to show up today. 68. are not even here today. because this is a fake crisis. it's a fabricated crisis. it's a shame that instead of helping small businesses and families, they're trying to scare the american people, when everybody knows there's enough money to carry out the mail, barack obama and joe biden took out over 11,000 post offices it was never even a problem. got to vote against this i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i recognize representative krishnamoorthi, the distinguished chair on economics and consumer policy in the government oversight and reform committee, 1 1/2 minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one and a half minutes. mr. krishnamoorthi: i rise as a proud co-sponsor of h.r. 8015,

the delivering for america act. madam speaker, the usps is under attack. in the last month, post-master general dejoy has made irreversible changes causing mail delivery backlogs as long as three week. but don't just take my word for it. 1,612 constituents of mine have contacted us about delayed mail. denise contacted us saying, i run a small business and rely on the post office to receive payment for my clients. without payment i have no idea. any delay in getting paid is a big hardship for me. in the past month, i have had to wait several weeks for payment. take vanessa's board for it. she says, quote, my insurance forces us to get our prescription delivered by mail. i have diabetes and need to take my meds or risk health problems. the usps is a service we all pay with our taxes and as a paying customer we need to demand that

we get our service back now. the delivering for america act includes three important provisions, madam speaker. it reverses the dangerous operational changes implemented by post-master dejoy. it includes $25 billion for relief for the usps. and it requires the usps to treat all official election mail as first class mail. i strongly urge my colleagues to support this legislation and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: i yield three minutes to the gentleman from california, mr. nunes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. nunes: thank you, madam speaker. thank you for the time. since the election of president trump, the most absurd conspiracy theories have been proclaimed as gospel by the entire democratic party and their media mouthpieces. let's begin with the russian collusion hoax. the theory that trump was a

secret russian agent who co-lewded with putin to steal the 2016 election from hillary clinton. the theory comprised many preposterous subconspiracies including several wild tales. for example, secret computer servers communicated with russians. secret meet wgs russians occurred in prague. secret russian money laundering from the trump campaign. and best of all, putin having a secret stash of nude pictures of trump and now the infamous pee tapes the democrats and their pickup trucks in the media spent several years searching all over europe for. the russia hoax implode bud you have to admire the democrat's ability to jump from one debunked conspiracy theory to another without a hint of shame, embarrassment ment or self-reflection. the democrats supposedly convened us here today to protect americans from trump's latest nefarious plot.

his alleged attempt to sabotage the postal service to steal the election. in the grand scheme of democratic conspiracy theory, one is scraping the bottom of the barrel. i suppose we can grant the democrats that the post office actually does exist. and it does deliver mail. but watching the jut rage on social media about missing mailboxes and anti-mail theft devices is rather sad. good conspiracy theories have rich false details that tell a story. like area 51, for example. but the democrats have grown a little lazy to develop the necessary back story. the postal service hoax is more akin to the earth is flat, nasa faked moon landings, that elvis is a live and that paul mccartney is dead. even big foot an chupacabra at least yielded photographic evidence. in closing i want to thank my

democratic colleagues for inviting us here far saturday afternoon matinee in august. i urge them next time to put more effort into their future conspiracy theories. you no locker have time to properly craft your fake news narratives, you can always have the democratic national committee launder money to hire a british spy to go to your russian friends and develop another set of fake dossiers. have a good afternoon, i urge a no vote. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: members are remined to address their remarks to the chair. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i recognize for one minute the distinguished member of congress from massachusetts, congressman keating. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. keating: for several years i was a letter carrier, working my way through college and grad school, working overtime as mail volume necessitated. it was understood then that was

a necessity. i worked with dedicated postal workers, many of whom were veterans who persevered through emergencies, hurricanes, blizzards, floods. as the motto says, snow, rain, gloom of night. now our country faces new emergencies. a pandemic that threatens lives and encumbers our basic rights like the right to vote safely. and an economic crisis where 600,000 postal service workers battled back providing economic stimulus and $1.6 trillion in sales revenues. it's an economic and health care lifeline, a lifeline donnell trump is trying to sever to sabotage mail-in voting he thinks will dampen his chances to cling to power. he is the gloom of night and it is our job, our duty, to throw sunlight his way and stop him. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: may i inquire how much time we have remaining? the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman has eight minutes remaining. the gentlewoman the gentlewoman from new york has 10 minutes remaining. mr. comer: i yield one minute to the gentleman from michigan, mr. walberg. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized for one minute. mr. walberg: i thank the gentleman and i thank the speaker. i was told in persuasion class many, many years ago, that if you had a weak argument, you shouted all the more. after hearing some of the leadership on the other side of the aisle, i guess they learned the same approach. a weak argument that isn't holding up. when i heard the majority leader talk about, this is for the people, this is for your people, i don't believe that at all. mail carrier is working today. 68 democrats are not working today. and yet this is supposed to be something of importance. last week we heard the convention start this postal deal going on. this is just a continuation of

the democrat convention. i want you to know that nothing that has been said about supposedly what the president is attempting to do in defunding, in deflating, in stopping the vote, or the mail service, is true. my democrat colleagues know that as well. and i think that's why 68 chose to stay home today as opposed to coming here in a planned event that meant nothing other than politics. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now recognize for one minute the distinguished member from rhode island, representative langevin. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from roiled is recognized for one minute -- rhode island is recognized for one minute. mr. langevin: i thank the gentlelady for yielding. madam speaker, the post master general's attempts to push forward operational changes that delay the mailed are simply unacceptable -- the mail are

simply unacceptable. my constituents depend on the u.s. postal service. in the past week alone, i received over 1,000 constituent letters expressing confusion and anger over these changes that are planned and implemented. a senior wrote me expressing her alarm over what might happen if her diabetic husband failed to receive his medications on time. a constituent from wakefield, who has not missed an election since 1956, emailed me to ask if he should vote in person, despite being 85 years old with health concerns. no one should have to wait for life-saving medications or risk their health to cast a coat -- cast a vote. i urge my colleagues to support this bill. millions of americans are counting on us and we cannot let them down. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from kentucky voids. mr. comer: madam speaker, i yield one -- is recognized. mr. comer: madam speaker, i yield one minute to the gentleman from texas, mr. gohmert. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. gomez: thank you. i thank my friend --

mr. gohmert: thank you. i thank my friend from kentucky. i am pleased that democrats here are upset about what's happened to the post office. my regret is, you didn't get upset during the obama administration when they were shutting down our post offices, not just getting rid of 12,000 mailboxes, shutting down processing centers and in my district, when they shut down the overton processing center, it meant mail going from tyler to long view or vice versa went to dallas, then to shreveport and back. and the deputy attorney general came to my office. i'd been demanding a meeting with the post master general, but oh, no, no time for that. they had no decency. they tried to say 390 miles will be cheaper and quicker than going 30 miles, it's an outrage what the obama administration did, including their post master general who was in office until

june 15 of this year. wake up. let's complain about the post office and the obama years. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now recognize for one minute the distinguished member from tennessee, representative cohen. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman voice -- is recognized for one minute. dave cowens thank you, madam chair -- mr. cohen: thank you, madam chair. the post master general was before a senate committee on friday. he was asked if he would put back in the sorters that he had removed. and he said no. i think that's because he had already done his dirty work, he'd already slowed down the mail by taking those sorting machines out and the flat sorters as well, postal people tell me is causing great delays and will cause greater delays. he had already done it. he refused to put them back in. why? because the job was done and he didn't want to put those sorters back in to see that the mail was delivered. he's in karl malone, he does not

deliver. he is not the mailman. these postal sorters need throb. 39,000 letters an hour go through. flat sorters are necessary for the mail-in ballots. there's no reason he wouldn't put them back in. it wouldn't save any money. it costs money to take them out. he didn't save money by taking them out. he reduced efficiency. he reduced the ability of the post office to deliver ballots to elect a person safely in america. this is a shame and it's a crime. i support the bill and everyone here should. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: madam speaker, i yield two minutes to my good friend from texas, mr. arrington. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes. mr. arrington: madam speaker, i rise in strong opposition to the democrat bill entitled delivering for america act. what an irresponsible and dishonest title. democratic leadership must take the american people as fools. this bill attempts to receive --

deceive the american people by manufacturing a crisis that simply does not exist. this bill also distracts this body from actually doing something in this chamber that matters. like condemning violent mobs terrorizing our communities. like helping hardworking families across this country in this unprecedented time of need. here are the facts, madam speaker. the united states postal service is a blockbuster video in a netflix world. everyone knows it's a broken business model. and it's failed its workers, it's failed its retirees and it's failed the american taxpayers. and despite the need for long-term reform, the postal service currently has $15 billion in cash on hand and $10 billion more from the cares act. the independent postal service board and the independent postal general -- post master general have repeatedly assured the american people that they can handle the increased volume in mail-in voting. let's be clear. today's vote is more political theater.

it's another scene from the democrats' one-act play entitled, "defeat president trump at all costs." even if it means peddling a deceitful narrative that undermines the american people's trust in our democratic republic. to say the postal service is all of a sudden incapacitated, unable to provide secure mail-in process is not intellectually honest. it's down right predatory. democrats who falsely call into question the security of our elections to justify a $25 billion bailout, is a scam. and a political payoff to their government union bosses. i urge my democrat colleagues, stand up to your leadership. stop this shameful charade. and see the great danger and ma -- in manipulating the american people to score cheap political points. let's get back to work, madam speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now recognize for one moment -- one minute the distinguished chair of the asian-pacific american caucus,

representative chu from california. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california is recognized for one minute. ms. chu: i rise today in strong support of h.r. 8015, the delivering for america act. because i will not tolerate sabotage of the u.s. postal service. this week i went to my local post office to fight back against the attacks on mail delivery that my republican colleagues now claim never happened. but i stand by those who know better than anyone, our country's postal workers. they talked about how cuts to overtime are forcing mail carriers to abandon their routes halfway through, and how deliberate reductions to operating capacity means that they cannot meet their communities' needs. my constituents also know better. every day i've heard from seniors whose medications have been delayed, small businesses unable to get orders to customers and workers waiting to receive a check.

pharmacies in my district have even needed to tell customers to pick their medicine up in person instead of relying on the mail. no one should have to risk exposure to covid-19, just to pick up it's a -- pick up a prescription, especially not so the president can suppress votes in november. vote to save the post office. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now call upon and give 30 seconds to the distinguished member from texas, sheila jackson lee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from texas is recognized for 30 seconds.

ms. jackson lee: over the last couple of hours, i've heard my friends on the other side of the aisle say this is not serious. ou know why this is serious? 176,000 dead americans from covid-19 and the projection that there may be 300,000 dead by december 1. i left and got on a plane from a hot spot, 14% to 20% infection. so my constituents who are suffering from stage four cancer need the mail. and if they want the proof, i read the words of general counsel and executive vice president, thomas j. marshall, of the u.s. postal service. we are currently unable to balance our costs with available funding, sources to fulfill both our universal service mission and other legal obligations. the post office doesn't have money. we need to be able to deliver this money to them and vote on this bill. i support the bill and i ask my colleagues to vote on it. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized.

mr. comer: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now recognize for one minute the distinguished member from north carolina, alma adams. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. adams: thank you, chairwoman maloney. thank you for your leadership. i rise today in strong support of h.r. 8015, delivering for america act. a courageous -- our courageous postal workers and letter carriers have been essential in keeping this country on track during this pandemic. more of us than ever are relying on the u.s. postal service to safely deliver medication and mail in a timely manner. but now this hand-picked post master general is engineering an unconstitutional assault against the postal service from the inside-out. i saw it myself just yesterday in charlotte. mail sorting machines have been reassembled and removed. workers are being prohibited from working overtime and letters and packages are piling up. i was proud to help lead the

charge with chairwoman maloney, chairman connolly and defazio. earlier this month in a letter we wrote to speaker pelosi. and now i am proud to vote in favor of protecting the essential institutions -- institution. the u.s. pose -- institution the u.s. postal service has been delivering for us our entire lives. now it's time we deliver for them and for america. i urge my colleagues to vote in favor of h.r. 8015. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: madam speaker, may i inquire how much time we have remaining? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman has four minutes remaining. the gentlewoman from new york has 5 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. comer: reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now recognize for one minute the distinguished representative from colorado, joe neguse. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from colorado is recognized for one minute. thank you, madam

speaker. and thank you to chairwoman maloney for her leadership. i'm proud to speak in strong support of the delivering for america act. you know, i've been here on the floor listening to this debate. i've heard several of my republican colleagues describe this as a manufactured crisis. tell that to my constituents. tell that to kelsey, a small business owner in loveland, colorado, who is worried about her ability to get packages delivered on time to her customers because of delays at the postal service. manufactured crisis? tell that to marsha, my constituent in boulder, who depends on mail-order prescriptions which this month took nearly two weeks to arrive. this is not a manufactured crisis. there is a real crisis at the postal service under this post master general and we here in the house strive to fix it. that's why i'm a strong supporter of the bill that is before the house today.

ultimately to ensure that the current standards of the postal service are protected and provide $25 billion in emergency funding. let us get this done for the american people. and with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i now recognize the distinguished member from texas, al green. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for one minute. mr. green: i thank the gentlelady for the time. madam speaker, it is shameful and sinful that history will record that on the great issues of our time, many of them, the senate failed to act. on issues concerning life and death, the senate of the united states of america refused to

act. on the great issue of the heroes t, which has life-saving implications, some 86,000 have died since it was passed and the senate has failed to act. on the issue of delivering of life-saving medications by way of the postal service, when the postal service needs our help, the senate has refused to act. and a senate that refuses to act puts the actions of the house at risk because the truth is this. it takes an act of congress to help these entities. it takes an act of congress to help the people of the united states of america. you cannot have an act of congress if the senate refuses to act. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york is

recognized. mrs. maloney: i recognize the chair of the subcommittee on energy and water and appropriations, the distinguished member from ohio, marcy kaptur. for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: for how much time? mrs. maloney: for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. kaptur: i thank the chair and rise as a former letter carrier to support this and oppose the cuts by post-master general dejoy. the post-master claim he is hasn't taken any steps to limit overtime. his state suspect hollow. ternal documents show they prohibit extra or late trick, which means you finish delivering the mail in your bag that day and mandate carriers return on time, so they can't finish the job. in normal times the postal service is crucial but in the pandemic, on-time mail delivery

is a matter of life and death. given that people's homes are now polling places, the service protects the essence of our democracy. don't mess with usps. yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. comer: reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i recognize for 30 seconds the distinguished member from california, ms. barbara lee. the speaker pro tempore: ms. lee is recognized for 30 seconds. ms. lee: thank you for yielding. mr. speaker, we see across the country the dismantling of the postal service which has been a lifeline in american life my constituents are terrified and angry because they're not receiving their medications on time. delays are hurting our small businesses. they are outraged their constitutional right to vote could be taken away. this is not only an attack on

our democracy but also our work force heroes who in spite of the pandemic deliver our mail. 40% of the heroes are people of color my grandpa retired as a letter carrier after 35 years service. i urge an aye vote to support rather than destroy our postal service. thank you again, thank you for yielding. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: mr. speaker, i have no further speakers, i'm prepared to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: i first would -- i have no further speakers and i'm prepared to close except for the distinguished leader of the -- the speaker. i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky reserve, the gentlewoman from new york is ecognized.

mrs. maloney: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. comer: mr. speaker, despite the passionate arguments made by supporters of h.r. 805, the truth is simple. the new post-master general is not trying to sabotage the election. he's doing the exact opposite. in fact, he's ensuring that states are educate thond he tissue on the reality of the postal service's operations so enough time is given for american citizens to vote by mail if they choose to do. board yesterday, think of governors announced a bipartisan committee to focus on election mail issues. vote big mail is a crucial way that american citizens can exercise their constitutional right to vote. and it's important that all ballots be counted. the postal service will be able to handle an increase in mail volume ahead of election as they already handled a larger volume

of census forms and stimulus checks earlier this year. this increase in mail will also bring in revenue, strengthen the u.s. postal service's fiscal outlook. let's not forget that the postal service already has a approximately $15 billion in cash on hand. which will allow it to be operational through august of 2021. it also has a $10 billion line of credit from the cares act that it has not drawn down. the usps clearly does not need a bailout for the 2020 election season. to provide these funds without a concrete business reform plan that mornedizes the post office for long-term viability would be reck these. we all want to see an operational, efficient postal service that best serves every american. my grandmother was a rural mail carrier for 27 years. as both her grandson and as a

representative elected by rural kentuckian, i know firsthand the importance of a reliable postal service in helping small businesses thrive, ensuring americans get their medications on time an allowing folks to share greeting cards with loved ones. americans deserve an improved postal service but this bill potentially makes things worse. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: mr. speaker, delivering the mail and medications and ballots, this is a part of our constitution, it's important to our democracy and numbers don't lie, this internal report from the postal service shows that services are down 10% since this post-master general took charge. i want to publicly thank the speaker of this great body for her leadership and for calling

this emergency meeting and emergency vote. and there was no change in service until she called the meeting and vote. i thank you for standing up to the american people and fighting for their services and their democracy and their vote. i yield to the distinguished speaker of the united states congress, the first woman in history as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of women's -- of women gaining the right to vote, we are so proud of you and your leadership, speaker nancy pelosi. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california is recognized. ms. pelosi: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the gentlelady for yielding and her kind words of enter ducks by i most importantly want to thank her for being the champion, the champion for the -- in defense of the postal service. i rise in joining her in support of the delivering for america act to protect lives and

livelihoods and the life of our american democracy in a critical moment for our nation. i thank you madam chair again for the intellectual resource you have been in shaping the legislation, making us current in terms of the report from the postal service and what is at stake and why this legislation, mr. speaker, is so important. i salute house democrats for their enthusiasm, energy, and insistence on delivering for america. sin day one of the postal crisis they have conveyed the concerns of their communities to the congress holding event, accelerating a drum beat and shining light on this crisis. this postal service, i'm going to say three things, talk about three things, mr. speaker. madam chair. ranking member. this is about the prove nance of

the the provenance of postal system and what it has meant to america and what the challenges are in delaying service and what this -- and therefore why this legislation is so necessary. first let me say that the -- in the constitution of the united states, it says, the congress shall have the power to establish post offices and post roads, article 1, section 8. so the post office is there in the institution. -- in the constitution. even before that it's been a pillar of american democracy. it is an all-american institution which enjoys the overwhelming support of the american people for a reason. again, enshrined in the constitution, an inseparable part of our national story. helping transition america from colonies to country.

in the early 1770's, our founders relied on the precursor of the postal service, the committees of correspondence, educate people about the abuses of the british and to build support for independence. even before the declaration of independence was signed, the continental congress had established the postal service as one of the first and most important offices that would be part of the new government. two of our u.s. presidents, abraham lincoln andujarry truman, would proudly hold the title of post-master. one of our funners, benjamin franklin, was the post-master general, actually he established the postal service. so this goes to the heart of our country and the connection that the postal service throughout our history, from the very start, has been in tiing our

country together. in the early 19th century when visiting america to write his great book, democracy in america, alexis de tocqueville praised the postal service as being the great link between minds and writing that not in the most enlightened rural districts of france is there an intellectual movement so rapid or on such a scale as this -- as the postal service. so it has been excellent from the start, part of the unity, the unity of america. as we all know, the postal model states neither -- motto states neither snow, nor rain, nor gloof of night stays these couriers from their completion of their appointed rounds. swift completion of their appointed rounds. as members of congress we have a response to believe the ensure that those courageous couriers are not strayed if their

constitutional duty to serve the american people. we salute the patriotic -- i join you, madam chair, in saluting the patriotic men and women who risked their health and safety to serve the mesh people every day. our postal workers, our letter carriers and all who make -- who may bring us together there is a second postal motto. inscribed above the original washington, d.c., post office. it says, and this is really so clearly what the postal service has been about. messenger of sympathy and love, servant of parted friends, consoler of the lonely, bond of the scattered family, enlarger of the common life, carrier of news and knowledge, instrument of trade and industry, promoter of mutual acquaintance, of peace and of good will among men and nations. our postal service are the

beautiful thread that connects our country, delivering sympathy and love, news and knowledge, peace and good will and as a grandmother, i will say, we have seen our children and grandchildren write their letters to santa. we've seen messages come from the tooth fairy. we've seen photos and drawings of families taking joy in each other that no amount of social media can convey. so again, we must honor their service with our full support and protection and gratitude for what they mean in our lives. today, the postal service, and this is why this is so important that we have this legislation. the postal service provides critical services for americans in every corner of the country, from our workers, delivering paychecks and tax returns, for our seniors ensuring social security benefits, for small businesses providing shipping an

essential services. for millions of americans, particularly rural americans, delivering 1.2 billion prescriptions including most of the medications delivered by the v.a. in 2019, 1.2 billion prescription were delivered by the postal service. and that was before the coronavirus hit. for voters, delivering absentee ballots and election mail which is essential especially during the coronavirus epidemic. no one should be forced to choose between his or her health and the right to vote. across the nation, though, the post master general is pushing sweeping new operational changes that degrade service, delay the mail and threaten to disenfranchise voters, particularly in communities of color. now the post master says he will postpone any further changes until after the election. that's what he says. but this is about more than the election.

this legislation is written in the timely fashion to be about the coronavirus and these changes should be there until the end of january or the end of the raging epidemic, which ever s later. it's in that regard that i rise as speaker to speak on the legislation. as a representative of my district, where i'm not called madam speaker, i'm called nancy, this is what they have told me. nancy, michael has said, is a veteran with epilepsy, he reports the prescriptions sent by the v.a. through the mail are aking twice as long to arrive. walker says, a senior with debilitating health conditions, is now struggling to send and receive his mail after his closest mailbox was suddenly removed. claire, an 83-year-old with serious chronic illness, who does not have a car and is afraid to use public transport during the pandemic, is in a

panic because she's utterly depend on usps for medication and other vital deliveries. and of course the ballot. another san francisco, charlotte, warns that the postal service is vital to our country, not only when it comes to mail-in voting, but also for fundamental needs of americans. and mark, another constituent, puts it, not only does what -- what trump is doing put the integrity of the november elections at risk, people are suffering every day and they're not receiving their critical medications. that's what i'm hearing from my constituents. and they've -- they're told to go to the post office. well, they really can't. in some cases it endangers them. to go to the drug store instead of getting it through the mail. go to the drug store. so again, this is immediate in their lives. we are their representatives. that is our job title. and our job description.

and representing my constituents, i wanted to convey some samples of concern that we have heard. earlier this week, in response to the activism of the american people, people have risen up, i've never seen anything quite like it. and house democrats, the postmaster general announced changes were wholly insufficient and doesn't reverse damages already reached. he said frankly, and i have to give him credit for his honesty, he said, i have no intention of replacing the sorting machines that were removed from the post office. i have no intention of replacing the blue mailboxes that had been ripped from our neighborhoods. and he had no plans for ensuring adequate overtime which is critical, critical in the timely delivery of the mail. he said he had no intention of treating ballots as first class mail. yesterday he said something different. but that's what he told me a couple days ago the and i said

to him, we will have -- ago. and i said to him, we will have the provision in the bill that requires you treat ballots as first class mail. he said, well, if it's in the bill, then i will have to do it. hence his change of attitude. he has not adequately addressed america's concerns about the slowdown and the delivery of medicine to veterans. he didn't even seem to know about it. really? today chairwoman maloney released new internal post office documents that expose the severity of the service declines and delivery delays caused by the postmaster general's drastic changes. these documents make clear that the postmaster general has deliberately misled congress and the american people about the extent of the damage, brushing them off as a dip in service, an unintended consequence. these revelations show that we cannot have confidence that the postmaster general is prioritizing postal service or the millions who rely on it. now, the house is moving forward

with a hopefully bipartisan vote and i think it will be on delivering for the america act. which will reverse the trump damage and provide $25 billion to the united states postal service. sadly, the administration has already threatened to veto this legislation, which contains the same amount of funding, the $25 billion, that was recommended by the united states postal service board of governors. they are bipartisan. they are 100% appointed by donald trump. and they unanimously recommended the $25 billion that is contained in this bill. so, for the sake of every senior who has -- is delayed in getting his social security check, every veteran who is delayed in getting his or her medication, every working family who is delayed in getting their paycheck, and every voter now facing the prospect of choosing

between their vote and their health, we need to pass this bill. with that, i urge a strong bipartisan vote for h.r. 8015. the delivering for america act. let's pass this under the distinguished leadership of chairwoman maloney for the people. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. all time for debate has expired. pursuant to house resolution 1092, the previous question is ordered on the bill as amended. the question is on engrossment and third reading of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. third reading. the clerk: a bill to maintain prompt and reliable postal services during the covid-19 health emergency and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky seek recognition? mr. comer: mr. speaker, i have a motion to recommit at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: is the gentleman opposed to the bill? mr. comer: mr. speaker, i am opposed to the bill in its current form. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman qualifies. the clerk will report the motion.

the clerk: mr. comer of kentucky moves to recommit the bill, h.r. 8015, to the committee on appropriations, with instructions to report the same back to the house forthwith with the following amendment. add after section 2-c the following, d, penalties for postal service employee federal election tampering. one in general. an employee of the united states -- mr. comer: i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the reading. the speaker pro tempore: is there objection? hearing none -- an objection is heard. hearing none -- the reading is dismissed. pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from kentucky is recognized for five minutes in support of his motion. mr. comer: thank you, mr. speaker. my colleagues on both sides of the aisle have shown immense passion today for both their constituents and the integrity of this upcoming national election. there's no doubt that voting by mail will be more relied upon than it has been in previous

elections. the postal service will be a crucial link in the chain of custody between voters and state or local election boards. for the americans who choose to cast their vote via mail, they need to be sure that their ballot, their voice will be safe. we therefore need the proper measures in place to ensure that integrity is maintained. in addition, if we are going to give the postal service funding, i think my colleagues on both sides of the aisle need assurances that it will be spent where americans need it most. the prioritization of medical deliveries and ballots for this election. my motion contains reasonable additions to h.r. 8015 that ensure that this funding gets to where it needs to go. these provisions ensure that funds must only be spent on operating expenses to keep our postal workers paid and keep them safe, with personal protective equipment. these provisions will also ensure that a portion of these funds go to prioritizing

pharmaceutical deliveries to get life-saving medicines to americans quicker. lastly, these provisions ensure that these funds are used to prioritize ballots as well as establish penalties for postal employees who tamper or interfere with election mail. for instance, any postal employee will face penalties if they knowingly and willfully slow down the processing of mail . or use as their official authority to interfere with the election of a federal candidate. this upcoming election will put millions, possibly hundreds of millions, of votes in the literal hands of postal service workers. who we must trust to deliver ballots safely and on time. the election will put our collective faith in our postal service like we've never seen before. and those who break the trust of the americans need to face the consequences. i urge my colleagues to vote in

favor of this motion to recommit . the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman yield? mr. comer: i yield. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. who seeks recognition? for what purpose does the gentlewoman from michigan seek recognition? mrs. lawrence: mr. speaker, i claim the time in opposition. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for five minutes. mrs. lawrence: mr. speaker, obviously my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are not aware that fraud is a federal -- voter fraud is a crime. we have already established and funded the united states postal inspection service. little do they know, whenever an employee is in a postal facility, there are internal galis in every facility where you're observed for 24 hours a day by postal inspectors. i am very comfortable, mr. speaker, that we will adhere to those laws.

we have clerks who have sworn duties to protect elections. but let me tell you, mr. speaker, three months ago this house passed the heroes act. and i ask my colleagues to open their mail. because we sent them a letter that will protect the postal service. we sent them a letter saying that we need to send funding to the states and local governments so they will not defund the police department. if you want to know who is defunding the police department, the lack of a movement on the senate to send the necessary money to cities who must balance their budgets. and the only way they can balance their budget is to cut. because they don't have the funding, it's been taken away from them because of covid. so you have the responsibility, mr. speaker, the republicans have on their hands, the defunding of our police department. i wanted too to be very clear that we have heard repeatedly

that the democrats had manufactured a crisis. at the expense of this president. and that the emergency funding is, and i quote, an unnecessary bailout plan. we do not need to help the current president to create a crisis. we have seen every single day statements from the white house about what we're doing and what we shouldn't do and what we should not do with the postal service. i want everyone here to know that every postal employee takes an oath that they will adhere to the constitution, that they will serve and protect. that the majority of the postal workers are veterans who have served the military, who continue their service in the postal service. i want to be very clear that this election that is being held hostage right now by the postal

service, internal decisions to tear it apart, where you have over 600,000 employees reporting to work, to want to uphold their oath of office, i want to say today, mr. chair, that the postal service motto is, through the rain, sleet, snow, doom of night, you will not deter these carriers from their mission. and we are standing here today saying no. return to sender this unnecessary m.t.r. that we as the democrats and we are putting forth this bill to ensure that we are not in that place where we're going to try to deter the postal service from doing their job. i ask my colleagues to wake up, to understand that this is not a democrat or a republican issue. because the ballots that will be moving through the postal service, some of them may even go to them. they better protect the postal

service. thank you. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. without objection, the previous question is ordered on the motion to recommit. the question is on the motion. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the noes have it. the motion is not agreed to. mr. comer: i demand a recorded vote, the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to section 3 of house resolution 965, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the >> the house wrapping up debate in a rare saturday session on a bill that would abide $25 billion to the postal service and prohibit operational changes ahead of the november elections. this is the republican motion to recommit, the last chance to change the bill before final passage. the president tweeting this -- representatives of the post office have repeatedly stated they do not need money and will not make changes. this is a hoax by the democrats

to give $25 billion, unneeded dollars, for political purposes without talking about the universal mail-in ballot scam. the president tweets further that they are trying to pull off in violation of everything our country stands for, vote no to the money wasting hoax. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognition? >> as the member designated by ms. delbene, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that ms. delbene will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. grijalva of arizona, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. grijalva will vote no on the motion to

recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. price of north carolina, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the use that mr. price will vote

no, he will vote no, on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. kind of wisconsin, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. kind will vote no on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. case of hawaii, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the vote noat mr. case will n this motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman

have virginia seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by dr. foster, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that dr. foster will vote no on the motion to recommit. as the member designated by ms. moore, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that ms. moore will vote no on the motion to recommit. as the member designated by mr. rooney of florida, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. rooney will vote yes on the motion to recommit. as the member designated by ms. barragan of california, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that ms. barragan will vote no on the motion to recommit. as the member designated by mr. lowenthal, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. lowenthal will vote no on the motion to ecommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from illinois seek recognition? >> as the member designated by ms. schakowsky, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform schakowsky at ms. will vote no on the motion to ecommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from massachusetts seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by ms. brownley, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that ms. brownley will vote no on the motion to recommit. as the member designated by ms. frankel, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that ms. frankel will vote no on the motion to recommit. as the member designated by ms. kuster, pursuant to house

resolution 965, i inform the house that ms. kuster will vote o on the motion to recommit. as the member designated by ms. meng, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that ms. meng will vote no on the motion to recommit. as the member designated by ms. pingree, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that ms. pingree will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from delaware seek recognition? >> as the member designated by ms. degette of colorado, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that ms. degette will vote no on the motion to recommit on h.r. 8015.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. lieu of california, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. lieu will vote no on the motion to recommit. as the member designated by mr. blumenauer of oregon, pursuant

to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. blumenauer will vote no on the otion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by congressmen napolitano, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mrs. napolitano will vote no on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from connecticut seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mrs. wilson of florida, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mrs. wilson will vote no on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. lipinski, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. lipinski will vote no on the motion to recommit. as the member designated by mr. kosta, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. kosta will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member

designated by mr. doggett, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. doggett will vote no on the otion to recommit. as the member designated by mr. mcnerney of california, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. mcnerney will vote no on the motion to recommit. as the member designated by ms. bonamici, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that ms. bonamici will vote no on the motion to recommit. as the member designated by mr. visclosky, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. visclosky will vote no on the motion to recommit. as the member designated by ms. jayapal, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that ms. jayapal will vote no on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona seek recognition? >> as the member designated by representative kirkpatrick, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that representative kirkpatrick will vote no on the motion to ecommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. bradley schneider of illinois' district 10, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. schneider will vote no on the otion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california second recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. desaulnier of california, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. desaulnier will vote no on the motion to ecommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by ms. bonnie watson coleman, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mrs. watson coleman will vote no on the motion to recommit. as the member designated by mr. bill pascrell, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the mr. bill pascrell will vote no on the motion to recommit. designated by mr. albio sires, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the mr. albio sires will ote no on the motion to recommit. as the member designated by mr. eliot engel, pursuant to house i inform the , mr. eliot engel will

vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman recognition?seek mr. deutch: mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. kennedy will vote the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman rom california seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member cardenas, by mr. pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. no on the ll vote motion to recommit. mr. gomez: as the member khanna, d by mr. pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. khanna will vote no on the motion to recommit.

as the member designated by mr. texas, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. gonzalez will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for the purpose does gentlewoman from minnesota seek recognition? speaker, as the member designated by mr. roybal-allard, pursuant to house resolution i inform the house that representative roybal-allard will vote no on the motion to recommit to h.r. 8015. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman recognition? seek mr. kildee: mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. panetta pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. panetta will vote no on the motion to recommit.

mr. e member designated by horsford of nevada, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform horsford will mr. vote no on the motion to recommit. by mr. ember designated huffman of california, pursuant to house resolution 965, i mr. m the house that huffman will vote no on the motion to recommit. by mr. ember designated thompson of california, i inform the house that mr. thompson will no on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from kansas seek recognition? davids: mr. speaker -- mr. speaker, as the member mr. clay, pursuant to house resolution 965, i that mr. clay e will vote nay on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman california seek recognition? as the member designated by mr. bera, pursuant to house resolution 965, i mr. bera house that will vote no on the motion to recommit. to h.r. 8015.

as the member designated by dr. ruiz, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the will vote no. ruiz to h.r. 8015. as the member designated by ms. sanchez, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that ms. sanchez will vote the motion to recommit to h.r. 8015. -- as the member designated by ruiz, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the vote noat mr. ruiz will on the motion to recommit to h.r. 8015. as the member designated by ms. sanchez, pursuant to house i inform the , house that ms. sanchez will vote no on the motion to recommit to 8015.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? mr. sherman: as the member designated by mr. garamendi, ursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. aramendi will vote no on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition? mr. connolly: mr. speaker, as the member designated by ms. nevada, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform titus will at ms. vote nay on the motion to recommit. fo the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from massachusetts seek recognition? > as the member designated by ms. omar, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that ms. omar will vote

nay on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from massachusetts seek recognition? mr. mcgovern: as the member welsh of -- mr. mr. welch of vermont, pursuant i house resolution 965, inform the house that mr. welch will vote no on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? mr. jeffries: as the member designated by chairwoman eddie bernice johnson, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform chairwoman at johnson will vote no on the motion to recommit. as the member designated by lofgren, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that chairwoman the en will vote no on motion to recommit. as the member designated by pursuant erry nadler, to house resolution 965, i inform the house that chairman adler will vote no on the motion to recommit. as the member designated by serrano, n jose pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that congressman serrano will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition? mr. raskin: as the member designated by mrs. axne of iowa, pursuant to house resolution

that inform the house mrs. axne votes no on the motion to recommit. for peaker pro tempore: what purpose does the gentlewoman from pennsylvania seek recognition? as the member designated by davis of california, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mrs. davis will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from pennsylvania recognition?

> as the member designated by ms. speier of california, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that ms. speier will vote nay on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition? ms. wasserman schultz: as the member designated by ms. muesar sell powell of florida, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that ms. mucarsel-powell will vote no on the motion to recommit. and, mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. hastings of florida, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. hastings will vote no on the motion to recommit. and mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. payne of new jersey, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. payne will also vote no on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? as the member designated by -- pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that ms. lofgren of florida votes nay on ecommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. peterson, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. peterson will vote nay on the motion to ecommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by representative lowey, pursuant to house

resolution 965, i inform the house that representative lowey will vote nay on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from virginia seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by ms. porter, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that ms. porter will vote no on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> mr. chairman, as the member designated by ms. coast bar of texas, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that ms. escobar votes no on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from illinois seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. rush, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. rush will vote no on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman seek recognition? >> as the member designated by of california, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. the s will vote no on motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 182 and the 223.are the motion is not adopted. the question is on passage of bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. thehe opinion of the chair, ayes have it. nays.sk for the yeas and the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays -- pursuant to 3 of house resolution 956, the yeas and nays are ordered. lor members will record their votes by electronic device. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] for peaker pro tempore: what purpose does the gentleman seek alifornia recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member congress member

napolitano, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the ouse that mrs. napolitano will 8015.es on h.r. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from texas seek recognition? mr. speaker, as the member designated by ms. escobar of texas, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the ms. escobar votes yes 8015.. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the

entlewoman from minnesota seek recognition? mr. speaker, as the member designated by representative roybal-allard, ursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that ms. yes on llard will vote h.r. 8015, the delivering for america act. for peaker pro tempore: what purpose does the distinguished chairman from the state of new jersey seek recognition? mr. allone: thank you, speaker. as the member designated by mrs. coleman, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mrs. atson coleman will vote yes on final passage. as the member designated by mr. pascrell, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. bill pascrell vote yes on final passage. s the member designated by mr. albio sires, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the ouse that mr. albio sires will

vote yes on final passage. as the member designated by mr. engel, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. eliot engel will final passage. hank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from chicago. >> as the member designated by mr. grijalva, i inform the house that mr. grijalva which be voting yea on h.r. 8015. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. desean iowa of california, pursuant to h.res. 965, i inform the house, mr. desaulnier will vote yes on h.r. 8015. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from state of new york seek

recognition? >> as the member designated by representative lowey, pursuant to h.res. 965, i inform the house that representative lowey 8015. te aye on h.r. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from state of virginia seek recognition? >> as the member designated by ms. titus of nevada, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house ms. titus will vote ea on the underlying bill. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does distinguished the gentlewoman from the gentlewoman from from virginia. >> as the member designated by ms. porter, i inform the house that ms. porter will vote yes. the speaker pro tempore: for

what purpose does the gentlewoman from state of massachusetts seek massachusetts? mr. clarke: representative omar will vote yes on h.r. 8015. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does distinguished the gentlewoman from state of pennsylvania seek recognition? > mr. bradley schneider of illinois, i inform the house mr. schneider will vote yes on h.r. 8015.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from pennsylvania. >> as the member designated by i inform the house ms. spir will vote yes on h.r. 8015. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from state of pennsylvania seek recognition? >> mr. speaker as the member designated by as mr. case of hawaii, pursuant to house resolution 65, i inform the house that mr. case will vote yes on h.r. 8015.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. lawson of florida, pursuant

to house resolution 65, i inform the house mr. lawson otes yea on final passage. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman recognition? seek mr. kildee: as the member designated by mr. huffman of california, pursuant to h.res. 965, i inform the house mr.. as mr. horsford of nevada, pursuant to h.res. 965, nouse mr. horsford will vote yes. as the member designated by mr. thompson of california, i inform the house, mr. thompson will as thes on h.r. 8015 and member designated by mr. panetta of california, pursuant to h.res. 965, nouse mr. panetta will vote yes on h.r. 8015.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does distinguished honorable the gentlewoman from state of illinois seek recognition? >> mr. speaker as the member designated by mr. rush, purn to h.res. 965, i inform the house mr. rush will vote yes on h.r. 8015. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from state of washington seek recognition? >> as the member designated by

by ms. delbene, pursuant to h.res. 965, i inform the house hat ms. delbene will vote aye. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from illinois. >> pursuant to h.res. 965, i i inform the house the house that ms. schakowsky will vote yes on h.r. 8015. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does distinguished vice chair of the caucus from the state of massachusetts. ms. clark: as the member designated by by ms. pingree pursuant to h.res. 965, i inform the house that ms. opinion gee will vote yes on h.r. 8015. as the member designated by by h.res. 965.suant to

as as the member designated by by ms. kuster pursuant to h.res. 965, i inform the house ms. kuster will vote yes on h.r. 8015. pursuant to h.res. 965, i inform the house that ms. frankel will vote yes. and as the member designated by by ms. brownley pursuant to h.res. 965, i inform the house that ms. brownley will vote yes on h.r. 85015.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does distinguished the gentleman from north carolina seek recognition? mr. butterfield: as the member designated by mr. price of north carolina, punt to h.res. 965, i inform the house mr. price will vote yes on h.r. 8015. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from delaware seek recognition? >> as the member designated by s. degette, pursuant to h.res. 965, i inform the house that ms. degette will vote yes on h.r.

8015. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> as the member designated by by dr. bara, pursuant to house resolution 965, dr. bara will vote yes on h.r. 8015. as the member designated by by dr. ruiz pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house dr. ruiz will vote yes. as as the member designated by by ms. sanchez, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that ms. sanchez will vote yes. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition? ms. wasserman schultz: pursuant to h.res. 965, i inform the house ms. music ca salary powell. mr. mber designated by

hastings, mr. hastings will vote yes. and as the member designated by by mr. pape of new jersey, pursuant to h.res. 965, i inform the house that mr. payne will vote yea on h.r. 8015. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek

recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. garamendi, pursuant to h.res. 965, mr. garamendi will vote yes on h.r. 8015. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from state of arizona seek recognition? >> as representative kirkpatrick, representative kirk patrick will vote yes on h.r. 8015. >> as the member designated by mr. peters of california, pursuant to h.res. 965, i inform the house that mr. peters will vote yes on h.r. 8015. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman recognition?e seek vote yes onski will h.r. 8015. as the member designated by, i

inform the house that mr. costa will vote yes on h.r. 8015.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. kennedy of massachusetts, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house mr. kennedy will vote yes on h.r. 8015. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from state of california seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. khanna, pursuant to house resolution 965, mr. khanna will vote aye on h.r. 8015. as the member designated by by mr. cardin pursuant to h.res. 965, i inform the house mr. khanna will vote aye.

as the member designated by mr. gonzalez of texas pursuant to h.res. 965, i inform the house mr. gonzalez will vote aye on h.r. 85015. . . . jeff jelf as the member designated by pursuant to h.res. 65, chairwoman johnson will as the member designated by chairman jerry nadler, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that chairman nadler will vote yea on h.r. 8015. as the member designated by chairwoman zoe lofgren, pursuant

to house resolution 965, i inform the house that chairwoman lofgren will vote yea on h.r. 8015. as the member designated by congressman jose serrano, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that congressman serrano will vote ea on h.r. 8015. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the distinguished rules committee chairman seek recognition? mr. mcgovern: as the member designated by mr. welch of vermont, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. welch will vote yes on h.r. 8015.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, mr. blumenauer:, -- as the member designated by build blumenauer, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. blumenauer will vote yes. as the member designated by mr. lowenthal, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the

house that mr. lowenthal will vote yes. as the member designated by mr. lieu, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. lieu will vote yes on h.r. 8015. as the member designated by ms. barragan, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that ms. barragan will vote yes on h.r. 8015. as the member designated by mr. kind, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. kind will vote es on h.r. 8015. as the member designated by ms. moore, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that ms. moore will vote yes on h.r. 8015. as the member designated by mr. foster, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. foster will vote yes on h.r. 8015. as the member designated by mr. rooney, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. rooney will vote no on h.r. 8015.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the distinguished gentleman from the state of maryland seek recognition? rassrass mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. -- mr. raskin: mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. visclosky, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. visclosky will vote aye on h.r. 8015. as the member designated by mr. mcnerney of california, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. mcnerney will vote aye on h.r. 8015. as the member designated by ms. jayapal of washington, frm pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that ms. jayapal will vote aye. as the member designated by mr. doggett of texas, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. doggett will vote aye on h.r. 8015. as the member designated by mrs. axne of iowa, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mrs. axne will vote aye on h.r. 8015. as the member designated by ms. bonamici of oregon, pursuant to

house resolution 965, i inform the house that ms. bonamici will vote aye on h.r. 8015. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from the state of texas seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. peterson of minnesota, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. peterson will vote yes on h.r. 8015. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from kansas seek recognition? ms. davids: -- ms. davids:, mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. clay, pursuant to house resolution 965, i inform the house that mr. clay will vote aye on h.r. 8015.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 257 a the nays are 150. the bill is passed. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent that the committee of judiciary and the committee of budget be discharged from 8089 and i ask for its immediate consideration in the house. the clerk: h.r. 8089 a bill to amend the act to for certain immigration benefits and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: is there objection to consideration of the bill? without the bill is passed and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. mr. raskin: i ask that the committee of house administration be discharged of house resolution 88. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report. the clerk: house joint resolution providing for the appointment as a citizen region

of the smithsonian institution. ifment is there objection? without objection, the joint resolution is engrossed and read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain requests for one-minute speeches. the gentleman from state of new jersey seek recognition? the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i would like to recognize this year's graduating class of firefighters in salem county,

south jersey. i was honored to attend and see this class in action at the fire academy, if firefighter one recruit graduation earlier this month. they are not just a team, they are a family. this special class was hardened and unified in the midst of a nationwide coronavirus. i am so proud to be able to represent these men and women in congress and to recognize them for their feat and represent the resolve and commitment that makes this great nation even greater. your nation is proud of you. your community is proud of you. we are all proud of you and the work that you are all beginning. god bless you all and god bless these united states of america. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: any other requests for one-minute

speeches? hearing none. rn to section 4, the house stands adjourned until 10:00 a.m. on tuesday, august 25, curb cutst today to in the postal service on will as withode of 200 7-100 to, 26 republicans voting it neighbor. it now goes to the senate, which is not a acted take it up. on monday, house oversight committees get a chance to question the postmaster general on postal operations and the upcoming election, monday at