Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California announced on Sunday that she would call the House back from its annual summer recess for a vote this week on legislation to block changes at the Postal Service that voting advocates warn could disenfranchise Americans casting ballots by mail during the pandemic.
The announcement came after the White House chief of staff on Sunday signaled openness to providing emergency funding to help the agency handle a surge in mail-in ballots, and as Democratic state attorneys general said that they were exploring legal action against cutbacks and changes at the Postal Service.
The moves underscored
rising concern across the country over the integrity of the November election and how the Postal Service will handle
as many as 80 million ballots cast by Americans worried about venturing to polling stations because of the coronavirus. President Trump has repeatedly derided mail voting as vulnerable to fraud, without evidence, and the issue had become a prominent sticking point in negotiations over the next round of coronavirus relief.
The House was not scheduled to return for votes until Sept. 14, but is now expected to consider a Postal Service bill as soon as Saturday, according to a senior Democratic aide familiar with the plans. Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the majority leader, is expected to announce the final schedule on Monday.
"
Lives, livelihoods and the life of our American democracy are under threat from the president,” Ms. Pelosi said
in a letter to Democratic lawmakers. “That is why I am calling upon the House to return to session later this week.”
The abrupt return to Washington was announced just hours after Democrats called on top Postal Service officials to testify on Capitol Hill this month about recent policies that they warned pose “a grave threat to the integrity of the election.” It also demonstrates the growing alarm over changes the Postal Service is enforcing under its leader, Louis DeJoy, the postmaster general and a Trump megadonor, less than three months before a general election. Some of the changes, which Mr. DeJoy describes as cost-cutting measures, include
ending overtime pay and the removal or transfer of some sorting machines.
The move also increases political pressure on Republican senators facing competitive re-election in rural states like Montana and Alaska that are heavily mail dependent, some of which have already expressed unease with delays in mail delivery. (Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, called on the Senate to return and act on a coronavirus relief package that included funding for the agency.) It is unclear whether the Senate will take up the legislation, which would require the agency to maintain current service standards until Jan. 1, 2021, or until after the pandemic is over.
