Pascrell Demands DeJoy Respect the Law

Defiance of federal court latest defilement of USPS

PATERSON, NJ – U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) today ripped into U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy for defying a federal court order imposing increased election monitoring to ensure voters’ ballots were properly delivered.

“Under Louis DeJoy, the U.S. Post Office has been effectively hijacked from the American people and this nation,” said Rep. Pascrell, one of Congress’s leading advocates for USPS. “Postal operations have been damaged through DeJoy’s calculated sabotage. Medicines, pay checks, and other lifeblood necessities are being held up. The USPS’s defiance of a federal court order can only be laid at the feet of Louis DeJoy. Mr. DeJoy deserves to be slapped with a contempt of court order and also must be held accountable in a criminal court for his arson of our Post Office.”

“Amid all of this calamity, the work of letter carriers, mail handlers and postal workers has been nothing short of heroic. In the pandemic, postal workers kept the engine of America running, and during this election they have kept the heart our democracy alive. In the face of incredible adversity, they have succeeded where others have failed. We owe them eternal gratitude.”

Since this crisis began, Rep. Pascrell has been aggressively demanding accountability from USPS. On May 21, Pascrell wrote to USPS Inspector General Tammy Whitcomb demanding an investigation of turmoil at the USPS, purportedly stemming from a pattern of interference engineered by the Trump administration in its efforts to destabilize the post office. After soliciting responses from constituents, Rep. Pascrell released a slate of stories from North Jersey residents in the Ninth District describing the impact of Trump and Republicans’ vicious vandalism against USPS.

On September 30, Pascrell led members of the New Jersey Congressional Delegation in a letter to Postmaster General DeJoy demanding an emergency visit to the Daniels Center in Kearny and requesting information on USPS’s ability to carry out New Jersey’s all vote-by-mail general election. In October, Pascrell made a surprise appearance at the Daniels Facility and demanded access.

And on October 7, Reps. Pascrell, Sires, and Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ-11) called for the USPS Inspector General to open a new probe into the habitually abandoned mail in North Jersey, as well as of USPS brass’s illegal blocking of congressional access to postal facilities. On October 30, Pascrell led the state delegation again demanding answers from USPS.

On August 14, Pascrell became the first member of Congress to call for DeJoy and Donald Trump to be investigated by a state criminal grand jury for their arsoning the Post Office, making a criminal referral to New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal alleging Trump and DeJoy are subverting state elections.

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