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Press Release Published: Sep 14, 2020

Hice: Democrats Continue to Push Postal Conspiracy Theory Instead of Working on Real Reform

WASHINGTON – Subcommittee on Government Operations Ranking Member Jody Hice (R-Ga.) opened today’s hearing on the continuation of the Democrats’ conspiracy theory about the Postal Service by calling out the Democrats for continuing to ignore the facts.

In his statement, Subcommittee Ranking Member Hice notes that the Postal Service is in need of bipartisan and meaningful reform to be fiscally sustainable in the long-term but that it is not in need of an immediate bailout since it has enough cash on hand for another 11 months. He blasts Democrats for continuing to engage in a backwards and partisan process aimed at undermining the Postmaster General and President Trump.

Below are his remarks as prepared.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The notion that this hearing is a “postal update” is a farce; it is instead a continuation of the personal attacks on the Postmaster General.

Because of better than expected revenue during the pandemic due to packages, the Postal Service reported that it has enough money to be solvent until August 2021.

That’s 11 months from now. So there is no immediate need for a $25 billion bailout.

However, as GAO reported in May, and as we have all known for more than a decade, USPS’s current business model is not financially sustainable given declining mail volumes, increased compensation costs, and rising unfunded liabilities.

$25 billion in bailout money cannot fix these systemic problems, it will just push them a little bit down the road.

We have 11 months to come together and work in a bipartisan fashion to bring real reforms to the Postal Service, just like you did with my predecessor, Mark Meadows.

But instead of having a serious discussion about proposals for a postal reform bill, we are using this valuable time to delve into conspiracy theories about the Koch family and to opine on PMG DeJoy’s financial interests.

Assembling a group of people, regardless of their experience, to speculate – with no more facts or information than what is printed in the Washington Post – is a waste of time.

This is as close to a kangaroo court as anything I have seen.

And given the reckless apathy towards fact and truth Democrats have exhibited throughout this entire affair, it’s clear this “hearing” is nothing more than a further attempt at a political assassination.

What we do know at this point is that the USPS ethics office cleared Mr. DeJoy to retain certain assets, and to the best anybody here knows, he has complied with the conditions around that ruling.

For his part, the PMG confirmed at our full committee hearing that the OIG is currently conducting an investigation and said that he “welcomed the result of that report.”

Furthermore, President Trump has said he is open to a campaign finance investigation of Postmaster DeJoy and if it could be proven that he did something wrong, for him to lose his job.  This, despite Democrats’ attempts to paint the two as partners.

It sounds like at least those parties are waiting to collect the facts and evidence before rushing to judgment, something that has not been done at this committee so far.

Like when the entire House was forced to vote on a postal bailout bill without getting the opportunity to question the Postmaster General and analyze data on what caused reported slowdowns, or when the Democrats claimed that the removal of collection boxes and sending letters to states about their election deadlines was an assault on the Postal Service and democracy without understanding that these are actions that Postmaster Generals in the past have taken.

Today we are having a hearing two days before the Postal Service is due to start producing documents from the Democrats’ subpoena, which asks for documents regarding the Postmaster General’s divestment, recusals, and communications with the ethics office.

But let me add this – in the documents we have already received from the Postal Service, there is evidence of the Democrats’ disingenuous narrative about USPS.

Documents show in black and white evidence countering two of the Democrats’ favorite topics – postal boxes and mail sorting machines. More of these were removed just prior to the 2016 than have been removed this year. Somehow, I don’t recollect any talk about that…

So as a result, the hearing today will not be based on facts but on conjecture and supposition.

In the hopes that one day we will resume genuine postal reform, I have invited Mr. Mike Plunkett of the Association for Postal Commerce, or Postcom.

Postcom is a national association of businesses and organization that rely on the use of mail for communication and commerce.

I look forward to hearing from him, as well as Mr. Fineman, a former Chair on the postal Board of Governors, on how we can craft effective legislation to put the Postal Service on a sustainable path.

I yield back.

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