Help for the U.S. Postal Service landed in stalemate Sunday as the White House dismissed an emergency funding bill aimed at shoring up the agency before the November elections as “going nowhere” and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged senators to act quickly.
“The public is demanding action on this now,” Pelosi said. “I can’t see how the Senate can avoid it unless they do so to their peril.”
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows rejected the legislation the House passed late Saturday to provide $25 billion and block operational changes by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. Meadows called it a “political statement,” stressing that President Donald Trump would consider additional money only as part of a broader coronavirus relief package.
“That bill was not a serious bill,” Meadows said. “And my conversations with a lot of the Democrats on Capitol Hill yesterday is, if you want to be serious about it, this president is willing to put forth money and reforms.”