Soto Votes to Protect and Fund Postal Service

Press Release

Today, with the U.S. Postal Service under assault from the Trump Administration, Rep. Darren Soto (FL-09) voted to pass H.R. 8015, the Delivering for America Act. The Delivering for America Act requires the Postal Service to return to the Postal Service operations and levels of service that were in place on January 1, 2020 throughout the duration of the coronavirus public health emergency and requires all election mail to be treated as First-Class mail. It also provides $25 billion in critical funding for the Postal Service -- the same level of funding recommended by the USPS Board of Governors, which is composed of 100 percent President Trump appointees.

The vote comes after Congressman Soto hosted a press conference in Kissimmee on protecting the Postal Service.

"The Postal Service is essential to the fabric of our communities, providing Floridian families and all Americans with critical services, including the delivery of life-saving prescriptions, Social Security benefits, paychecks, tax returns and much more," said Rep. Soto. "Yet, the Trump Administration and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy have waged an outrageous campaign to degrade postal operations and delay mail delivery in the middle of a pandemic and just months before an election. To deny millions of Americans in nearly every state the ability to vote by mail in the middle of a pandemic is outrageous and dangerous. For our democracy and Florida's veterans, seniors, families and small businesses who depend on the Post Office, I proudly joined my colleagues to pass the Delivering for America Act to undo the damage and ensure the Postal Service has the resources necessary to fulfill its vital role at this pivotal moment. I will continue fighting to address the damage done to the Postal Service and ensure that every American can freely exercise their sacred right to vote in a safe and healthy way."
The Delivering for America Act would prohibit:

Any change that would generally affect service on a nationwide or substantially nationwide basis;
Any revision of existing service standards;
Closing, consolidating or reducing the hours of any post office or postal facility;
Any prohibition on paying overtime to Postal Service officers or employees;
Any change that would prevent the Postal Service from meeting its service standards or cause a decline in measurements of performance relative to those standards; and
Any change that would have the effect of delaying mail or increasing the volume of undelivered mail.
This legislation will also:

Include $25 billion requested by the Postal Service and supported unanimously and on a bipartisan basis by the Trump-appointed Postal Board of Governors;
Require the Postal Service to treat all official election mail as First-Class mail;
Prohibit the removal, decommissioning or other stoppages of mail sorting machines, other than for routine maintenance;
Prohibit the removal of mailboxes; and
Explicitly reverse any changes already implemented to the operations or policies of the Postal Service that delay mail delivery.

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