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Trump Says Postal Service Needs Money For Mail-In Voting, But He’ll Keep Blocking Funding

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  President Trump says the U.S. Postal Service is incapable of facilitating mail-in voting because it cannot access the emergency funding he is blocking and made clear that requests for additional aid were nonstarters in coronavirus relief negotiations.

Trump, who has been railing against mail-in balloting for months, said the cash-strapped agency’s enlarged role in the November election would perpetuate “one of the greatest frauds in history.” Speaking Wednesday at his daily pandemic news briefing, Trump said he would not approve $25 billion in emergency funding for the Postal Service, or $3.5 billion in supplemental funding for election resources, citing prohibitively high costs.

“They don’t have the money to do the universal mail-in voting. So, therefore, they can’t do it, I guess,” Trump said. “Are they going to do it even if they don’t have the money?”

Trump’s remarks came hours after congressional Democrats intensified calls for more oversight of the agency and the new postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, a major Republican donor and Trump ally.

The effort comes after DeJoy ushered a wholesale reorganization of agency’s executive ranks, restructured operations and instituted a hiring freeze on top of other cost-cutting measures already being blamed for significant mail backups. Two House Democrats, Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (Ore.) and Rep. Alma Adams (N.C.), called for DeJoy’s removal over the weekend. Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the policies stand in the way of the chamber completing a “Phase IV” coronavirus relief package.

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