Good evening everyone welcome to my Facebook live. I just want to give kind of an update of what's happening uh a couple of important issues and uh obviously hear your thoughts and your comments and any questions you might have for me so as you might have heard we are intending to return to Washington as a Congress on uh I'm gonna return on Friday for an emergency session of Congress on Saturday to address the issue of the. Postal Service um which uh we will take up a piece of legislation and um I just wanna kinda explain to you what's happening with the Postal service. So as many of you know uh the president of United States installed mister to joy to be a postmaster general is a Trump Mega donor who doesn't really have any familiarity Postal Service. He put a series of procedures in place that have resulted in a significant degrading The postal service. Removing sorting machines from Coastal offices around the country We retrieving mailboxes from all over the country um delaying the delivery of mail by refusing to permit over time. and so there's been a real impact on until now we have a press conference center. a center White House comes from Angie and I at the main post office to raise concerns about these issues call on the postmaster General I did to resign uh he has really um undermine the integrity of the Postal Service, particularly on the eve of. Where so much is uh so much that will be done from home because people are gonna vote from home. Uh this is really alarming. the president said that he uh if he didn't agree to a deal on the fifth coded relief package that included funding to the post office that it would be possible for states to allow people to vote by mail because the post office wouldn't have the ability to do it, which is really a shocking ignition by the president that he uh is opposing funding for the Postal service because he thinks it's beneficial to him. Electorally So that's a very disturbing statement. so uh we're gonna go on a piece of legislation on Saturday. I'm a cosponsor of the bill. It's called delivering for America Act and it's a piece of legislation that will first of all fund the post office with $25000000000, which is the recommendation of the entire board of Governors, all of them appointed by President Trump, Republicans and Democrats. so we'll fund the post office separately and piece of legislation and then, in addition to that we will put into place instead of um prohibitions on the operational changes that the postmaster general made that would. Diminish or delay Postal Service um and prevent him from reinstituting any of those so this is really important, You know our veterans rely on posters. I think 70% of veterans get their prescription drugs through the mail uh seniors uh some still get social security checks in the mail rather than electronic deposit, a many small businesses rely on the Postal Service to run their businesses and so um this is really important. The Postal Service is a really important institution in our country. You know the president talks about. Money and the reality is the Postal Service is not it's supposed to make money. It's not a profit making entity. It's a service to the people of this country. It's in our Constitution and we have a responsibility to make sure that the president doesn't destroy this institution of the Postal Service and not only you know adverse impact people's lives, but interfere and the integrity of our elections. So we're gonna go back on Saturday and do that um the second thing I wanted to give people an update on is you know as as. We pass the Heroes Act back on May 15th, so almost just more than 3 months ago, I wish has been sitting on Mitch McConnell's desk um this provides 75000000000. $75000000000 for testing nationwide isolation and um Uh. contact tracing which all the public health as is necessary to defeat this virus almost a $1000000000000 of aid to support our heroes on the front lines, Our you know, police officers firefighters first responders health care workers sanitation workers so that. And cities that are seeing you know crippling reductions in their revenues because of covid-nineteen will not a little bit of a pandemic. Uh we provide substantial assistance for people who can't pay the rent. I can't pay their mortgage. um We preside provide hazard pay for those that are doing dangerous work on the front lines and so the Heroes Act is been sitting on Mitch McConnell's desk he originally said stage You just go bankrupt. um he's now I think he's heard from his own colleagues that people are suffering small. Are being crushed families are facing incredibly difficult economic challenges and we need to have direct cash payments, which are in the Hero Act up to $6000 per family extended unemployment again with $600 in federal benefit people need this help and cities and towns need to support our heroes. families need it and so um we're continuing to negotiate and the hopes that the Senate will take up some version of the Hero Act and provide this relief and not send their centers. They do it as I've said before because three actions, you can pass the Heroes Act, which would be five and a half $1000000000 to the state, Rhode as an example, he can take up the Zack and amend it and send it back to the house for action by the house or you can pass his own relief bill and then send it to a conference committee and we can work out the differences but what it can't do is nothing um this is too serious. There's too much hurt out there. People need help. We thought it was very important to do a comprehensive bill that addresses the. Of this moment and a very significant way addresses the economic consequences and the health care consequences and uh so um we're gonna continue to press that forward um also I wanna mention that um I'm gonna see if I have some questions. I'm happy to try to answer them. um also I wanna mention that there's a report that came out on Tuesday. This is really significant. This is the the uh a bipartisan report signed by every single member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. This is controlled by. So recognize this is the Republican party controls the majority of the uh in the Senate, the intelligence Committee. It's a thousand-page report and in that report that they make it very clear that uh Paul Manafort, who was President Trump's campaign manager, I was working with a Russian intelligence officer who might have been involved in efforts to steal and disseminate uh Democratic emails and it it reveals some really disturbing information about this. The. Says that Russia work to influence uh Republicans long before Donald Trump that a long time for associate was a Russian intelligence officer of the report uh criticize the FBI, said examine whether Russia, I'm sorry, the the report portrayed Carter page um and and the investigation of the Trump campaign is completely justified. It's really worth seeing because our community has revealed that this is happening again and uh we have a. To protect our elections from foreign interference from any country because the American people get to decide who is the next president of the United States and who is gonna win American elections, not any foreign power So um that's I think an important point that I hope people will look at um and uh I'm not the other questions that folks might have uh let's see. Wayne There should be a government policy that major donor should not be given positions in government I agree, and I think one of the great frustrations that so many people have is that they have a sense that government doesn't work for the people, but that it works to advance the interest of the very wealthy the powerful special interests, those people connected to the administration. We passed HR one of the biggest ethics reform in the history of at least in my lifetime since Watergate um that really addresses many of these issues we've seen pervasive. This administration and I'm getting the government working and being responsive to the people is critical and I think the idea of people being able to buy positions or make those kinds of contributions and the expectation to get some job. They're not qualified for is a real disservice to our country and to the people we serve um. There there, There's a question here from Jean or come in a couple dozen veterans have received their meds lately out of 330000. Uh this is a real issue. We've heard from a number of veterans organizations that veterans medications have been delayed. Uh they go through the mail part of the operational changes that the postmaster general made was to stop over time so one of the things that the post Postal care has told us yesterday was that for the first time they're bringing me. To the post office, which I've never done before you deliver your mail until it's all out whether you have to work overtime or not they're now being told to bring it back and the inefficiency is that is the next day they have to reprocess it again just throw it in the corner as you go through the system again and through the sorting again, so the idea that this is somehow efficient to cut off overtime is just not true. It's really resulting in a delay of mail delivery, but also a terrible inefficiency so um. This issue is really important um I know there's a lot of questions about schools and the governments spoke about that today. um one of the things that we have to plus up in the Hero Act before final passage is money for schools because the schools are gonna go back. uh the only way they can go back and reopen as the it can be done safely That's gonna require additional resources so that schools can retrofit on and um reduce class size and do all the things that are necessary uh to open school safely that can be done uh Darlene is asking. I can we vote in person at City Hall. The answer is yes Uh 20 days before the election, you can vote any any this 20 days so people should go. I'd really encourage people if you're voting from home by mail as soon as you get your mail ballots, send it right in if you're gonna vote in person and you want to avoid standing in lines. go by your city or town hall uh 20 days before um that twenty-eight appeared you're allowed to do it early so you can do it during any of those 20 days and um. Uh it's a good way to avoid standing in line to be able to vote safely. One of the reasons we included $4000000000 in the Hero Act for uh to assist in the election so that all the states could be equipped to allow people to vote from home to safe. uh there's no evidence of any fraud despite what the president has said in fact he votes by absentee ballot, but states need resources to do that. And so that's one of the things we've concluded in the Heroes Act. You know whether you're a Republican or Democrat Independent, not affiliated everyone should agree that you should not have to make. Between your own health and your right to vote, I'm voting is critical to making sure your voice is heard and um I think that's really important to keep that in the Heroes Act. Uh Karen is asking how is Trump getting away with the Postal Service? Um we're not gonna let him get away with it as a result of them outpouring of outrage by the American people who are demanding that the P Postal Service not change its practices that are resulting in significant delays and degradation of the services Mister uh. He was gonna suspend any further implementation of that. The speakers spoke with him today and made clear that saying you're not gonna do any more damage doesn't undo the damage you already did and so we're calling on him to restore service hours that we're cut to return the sewing machines that were taken away to put back the mailboxes that were removed uh to do you know reverse all the actions He's already taken not simply pledge not to do anymore. so um that's really important. And so Lori, that was your question. Are you doing? absolutely? I've already demanded that um that as I said the idea that he's gonna stop doing any additional damage doesn't undo the damage. These are done. you have to keep on him for that for certain um. Let's considered citizens citizens you need to help with the back lot of it in the mail, especially in relation to the election. Uh that's the the you know we have a postal service. they have they have dealt with much larger volume during the holidays and Christmas and they they individuals. I spoke both it through the leadership. you know retired postal managers as well as the letter carriers, so they are perfectly capable of dealing with the number of ballots or likely to come through for the election. they have it. About that so long as those changes are not made to eliminate overtime to shorten the hours to you know, take away mailboxes. so if we just leave the post office alone provide proper funding and prevent Mister from making those changes, they will be equipped to process the mail without any problems so um just keep speaking out and support the Postal Service. that's really important. um the uh Maddie Melo talks about the $20000000000 in the next emergency Supplemental for international affairs budget. Uh I'll be happy to know that I led a letter uh with many of my colleague. Urging our leadership to do just that to make sure that we in addition to responding to covid-nineteen in this country that we continue to be a leader in the world and combat in covid-nineteen because if we don't understand that this is the virus that is gonna travel back to the United States. Uh we have an interest in making sure that we help other countries defeat this epidemic at the same time we are engaged in that fight. so thank you for that um comment um. um. Thank you for your nice words uh Thank you everyone for tuning in uh Lynn go vote. Um I think that's actually really important. whoever you're gonna vote for um voting is your expression of your voice and it's really important for folks to to be sure that your voice is heard presidential elections only happen once every 4 years, so make sure that you participate in deciding who the next president of the United States will be um if you have some issue that you need help with whether it's social security. Medicare something at the VA um please reach out to my office. um we are there we're working every day to help mitigate the damage and the harm this pandemic is causing um my office number is 729560 and uh appreciate you guys tuning in happy to give you an update and um look forward to speaking to you all again soon. Thanks. Stay safe.