House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) on Monday threatened to subpoena Postmaster General Louis DeJoy over his alleged failure to produce documents detailing Postal Services changes and delays to service.
“Mr. DeJoy, you’re withholding information from us, concealing documents, and downplaying the damage you are causing,” Maloney said during a House Oversight and Reform Committee on Postal Service concerns. “This committee expects a full and complete production of all the documents you requested no later than this coming Wednesday, and if you continue to withhold information or otherwise fail to comply, you can expect a subpoena.”
Maloney’s threat to issue a subpoena came after a heated back and forth with DeJoy at the hearing over a document received by the committee detailing slowdowns in service in the weeks since DeJoy took over as postmaster general in June.
Maloney took issue with DeJoy for not providing the committee with the document, which was part of a presentation DeJoy received in July.
This presentation took place prior to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Maloney and other leading congressional Democrats sending DeJoy a letter requesting that the Postal Service provide documents and answers around the reforms and slowdowns in service.
The chairwoman also criticized DeJoy for not producing the document during a hearing by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Friday, during which multiple Democratic senators asked DeJoy for analyses of the impact of new reforms on the agency.
“There is absolutely no excuse for concealing it and withholding this information from the committee or from your testimony from the Senate when you were expressly asked about information from the document, and unfortunately this committee received it from someone else,” Maloney said of the Postal Service report.
DeJoy pushed back, insisting Postal Service staff had acted correctly.
“I’m not familiar with the request in total, I’m sure the staff answered the questions as they were asked,” DeJoy said, defending his actions as postmaster general and insisting that “there are other reasons for delays in the nation.”
The exchange between Maloney and DeJoy came in the midst of a heated hearing, as Democrats and Republicans butted heads over the Postal Service, and whether new reforms to the agency by DeJoy were hurting the agency.
Republicans strongly defended DeJoy’s actions, while Democrats sharply criticized the postmaster general for endangering the delivery of medicine, ballots and other important items.
DeJoy has been under scrutiny in recent weeks due to concerns that changes to the Postal Service would endanger the delivery of mail-in ballots this fall, which are expected to be submitted in record numbers due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
DeJoy pushed back against these concerns during both the House and Senate hearings, noting that his “No. 1” priority over the next few months will be delivering election mail “securely and on time.”