USPS talking points include cutting transportation, eliminating overtime pay and leaving mail behind
President Trump continues to defend his new postmaster pick as calls grow for his resignation over operation cuts; Fox News correspondent David Spunt reports.
U.S. Postal Service complications could affect some people who still receive Social Security checks by mail.
As voters worry about the state of USPS operations and funding ahead of the November election, some politicians and journalists noted that U.S. citizens still rely on the service to deliver physical Social Security checks.
USPS WARNS 46 STATES IT CANNOT GUARANTEE MAIL-IN BALLOTS WILL ARRIVE IN TIME FOR ELECTION
More than 71 million Social Security and Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries, or 98.8% of total Social Security and SSI beneficiaries, receive their payments "electronically per month," a Social Security Administration spokesperson told Fox News.
The administration "mails nearly 850,000 paper checks (1.2 percent) per month. The electronic payments consist of direct deposit and Direct Express debit cards," the spokesperson said.
A USPS mail carrier walks through heavy rain as Tropical Storm Fay sweeps across the heavily populated northeastern United States in Jersey City, New Jersey, July 10, 2020. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)
The U.S. Treasury required all new Social Security recipients to sign up for electronic payments in March 2013 in an effort to move away from paper checks.
Former President Barack Obama and former presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., tweeted about the importance of the USPS on Monday.
USPS FLASHBACK: OBAMA ADMINISTRATION REMOVED THOUSANDS OF MAILBOXES
"Everyone depends on the USPS. Seniors for their Social Security, veterans for their prescriptions, small businesses trying to keep their doors open. They can't be collateral damage for an administration more concerned with suppressing the vote than suppressing a virus," Obama tweeted.
He added that Americans with the option to vote early by mail should do so.
Sanders similarly said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, "millions are relying on their medicine and Social Security checks to arrive on time. Trump’s attack on the post office is truly a matter of life and death. We will stand up, fight back, and protect our Postal Service."
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy will testify Friday before the Senate, and next Monday before the House, along with the chairman of the Postal Service board of governors.
Democrats and some Republicans say actions by the new postmaster general, a Trump ally and a major Republican donor, have endangered millions of Americans who rely on the post office to obtain prescription drugs and other needs, including an expected surge in mail-in voting this fall.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is calling the House back into session over the crisis at the Postal Service, setting up a political showdown amid growing concerns among Democrats that the Trump White House is trying to undermine the agency ahead of the election.
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Pelosi cut short lawmakers' summer recess with a vote expected Saturday on legislation that would prohibit changes at the agency. The package will also include $25 billion to shore up the Postal Service, which faces continued financial losses.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
