Contemplating whether this is the first time we've ever done this on a Saturday, Thank you for being here on a Saturday and I'm so proud of our members who are here uh to protect the post office before I go into that I wanna say we're a sad time it is uh across the country with storms coming in the rest but from my own personal experience in the state of California, we have wildfires burning that are burning us. The lay of the land the size of the state of Rhode Island, the size of the state of Rhode Island. uh we thank our firefighters for their courage, our first responders uh for their courage and community service. It's so sad, but I remember when we had the fires before uh the said the fires uh the smoke cannot exceed the love that we have for each other to come to each other. uh. It is um it's very sad and I commend our governor Newsom for his leadership, but he and I and all of us. Mike Thompson who's district is very affected by it all of us salute our firefighters and all of that we just came out of the convention as you know and uh I'm very proud of the values that we're presented there. in my remarks, I said, Come together not to deny the. Uh to light a way forward for our country that was my my part of our president to be our nominee Joe Biden's statement and so today I come to shine a light for our postal system uh most people don't know perhaps you do how significant the postal system was in the establishment of our country Since that time, it has been as American as Apple pie motherhood baseball you name it over. Of the American people support the postal system, there isn't any agency of government. I can make that claim uh it is a service postal service so when people say well, it doesn't pay its own way. It's not a business. It's the service and while we always wanna subject every federal dollar to the scrutiny of what we're getting for it uh let us remember that it is a service no business that I can think of would be uh. With what we've done to the postal service saying uh that they in 2006, a bill passed that said that that the postal service should pay 75 years of it's health benefits in 10 years. 75 years of its health benefits in 10 years. That is a responsibility that I don't think most businesses could uh meet and also uh come out with a uh on top so earlier this year, Mister DeFazio put forth a bill uh to to limit what that is so when they say it doesn't post we had to do these cuts in those cuts and those cuz we're cutting service. we're cutting. Not we but the new postmaster general so we have our members back for legislation that allocates the resources $25000000000 that were recommended by the US Postal Service, the board of Governors of the Postal Service. Are a board that are bipartisan and 100% appointed by President Donald Trump and they recommended the $25000000000 actually they recommend it more which we will have in other bills So that's part of this legislation. It is also necessary for us to have this legislation uh because in my conversations with the postmaster general which were most unsatisfactory who said he had no intention of restoring the post. Boxes that were removed no intention of restoring the sorting of machinery in the postal services and other infrastructure very essential to keeping the mail on time. and when I suggested that we have the uh ballots in the election treated as first class male, he said he had no intention of doing that, but if it was in the building he would and yesterday you see that he's now saying that he will, but to make sure that happens. Cuz his comments are one thing his actions will be another, and that's why we have this legislation. We'll be talking about it on the floor, Our distinguished chair Carolyn Maloney, chair of the uh the uh uh Committee of Jurisdiction, will be making her presentation as soon as the boat is over sure at 1 o'clock and we'll have more to say, but I think it's very useful to people to take the pride that it does letter. Santa messages from the Tooth fairy families communicating I know people are doing some things on social media and that's good, but as a grandmother, I can tell you there's nothing no substitute that a drawing or a note uh from your grandchild to the male but more important than that is important is that is to our culture our health 1.2. 1.2000000000 prescriptions sent through the mail in 2000. Team. 8090 percent, depending on uh the figures and we're trying to verify them, but at least 80% of the prescription sent from the VA to our veterans through the mail so when the male slows down the medication slows down the health of our veterans are affected and that's who we are hearing from the male slowing down and that's what we have to address today and again we'll go over all the provisions of the bill about uh. The slowing down of male, but this was an intention now those postmaster general is saying we're gonna we're gonna not do any of this until after the election Our legislation is not just about the election. It's about surprise Mister Post Master General the Corona virus covid-nineteen, which has a big impact on the election as well on as first and foremost on the health of the American people. So this is. Just about until after the election, if that can be trusted, it's about the length as we say in the bill uh the end of January or the end of a Corona virus, which other takes longer. and so this is why this legislation is necessary to because even in his statements, which are ambiguous uh they aren't they don't go far enough. I'm excited about that the history of it in the early 1770s building on the work of Benjamin Franklin, who oversaw the precursor of the postal service from nine 1753 to 1774 the revolutionary established underground networks, the committees of correspondents and then the constitutional post that enabled them to communicate without the knowledge of the British. It goes on to say the earliest committee was formed in 1964 in Bosnia goes on our first postmaster general was um. Benjamin Franklin uh the exchanges that followed what I just described uh built solidarity during the turbulent times and help bring about the formation of the first continental Congress and um in any event when Alexis Oakville uh spoke in that century, he said. um Alex Alexis to would praise the postal service writing that not in the most enlightened rural districts of France. is there an intellectual movement so rapid. On such a scale as in this wilderness, the effectiveness from the start and so uh that as I say rooted in American history, part of the communication that established us from going from colonies to a country there for America's families to communicate businesses to thrive medicines to be delivered now at this case uh time of. At the time of the pandemic of a safe way for people to vote, it's very important to shine a bright light on the postal system and to show our appreciation for what is done nearly 100097. 197000. The number is that 97000 veterans are employed by the postal service. so this uh this for us is is a joyous occasion to come together uh to vote for the. Service and to meet the needs of our people our constituents uh you can ask any member of Congress across the country, Democratic or Republican uh if they're hearing from their constituents on this subject and they are as we go forward, Then it just to note that tomorrow will be 100 days today, 99 days since we passed the Heroes Act uh it is uh very urgent. Even more so than when we passed it for us to have the values that this isn't a discussion about just dollars, it's about values and how we value the health and well-being of the American people. How we honor and value the work of our heroes, our health care workers our first responders our teachers, our teachers our transportation sanitation, food workers all many employed by the state and local government and the big obstacle. Going forward is the attitude of the Republicans, let the states go bankrupt and not fully coming to the table to support that, and of course, right now as a grandmother and a mom of a grandchildren in school and children who teach we have uh we really have to make it safer for our children to go to school and that takes money it takes money for distancing more teachers bigger class classrooms or more classrooms ventilation and Uh out of 100 biggest uh school systems school districts in the country for over 75 of them are either 62 over virtual and another dozen or so um hybrid a small number actual and our fight with the administration is has been that all they want the bulk of the money to go only if you actually open up, which is a small percentage of the biggest. Uh school districts in our country so and who pays mostly for schools but state and local government, so we can't have the firings that will incur if we don't fund state and local government to address the of the funds that they have spent the outlets that have made on the Corona virus and the loss of revenue, but more important than that even is the firing the uh uh the firings that will occur could be in the millions already. It's a million. Uh could be three and a half million more people fired and what does that do but add to the unemployment ranks and what does that do uh but hurt our economy so in any event uh this today is one piece of what we have in the Heroes Act. I'm not for splitting it up except this is an emergency and it has policy in it that was not in the uh the app, so I'm very proud of our members uh for coming back. For this, and of course of the day, I'll be meeting with them and we'll be talking about the justifications by what measure what justification scientific institutionally etc. Are we saying we need uh so much more money for education than the administration is ready to get but what scientific basis are we justifying and funding that we want uh for testing tracing treatment distancing etcetera. but what justification are we saying we need over $50000000000 for child care. We're telling people that they have to go to work, they can't because they have a child who's not going to school So childcare is an answer and some of those cases so the list goes on and we have uh put the justification for I will do so um more intensely as we um negotiate an agreement that we must have for the American people again, I've said about a state. California but anytime a natural disaster hits it's so sad and Iowa is suffering so badly and all of this. I hope that uh as soon as we can be the federal government will be there to support what our our members of Congress, there have been asking for any questions. We will not be. Any negotiations on For this that you're thinking. The message to voters. What they should do. But you have a three prong question there. Oh first, let me say we will pass the bill and it will be in a bipartisan way today and then we will send it to the Senate and uh let me just say uh that as I've always, said public sentiment is everything they'll be hearing from their constituents because this hits home not receiving your mail on a timely fashion hits home, not receiving your prescriptions, especially for our veterans hits home in a way that is harmful to our country as well. Uh. Um we're hoping that the uh uh the need for us to go forward in terms of we can open our economy if we have our uh uh testing and we can open our schools more safely if we have the point of a point of care testing tracing treatment et cetera, why they will not follow science is beyond me, but nonetheless, it's we have to make that case and it's safer. As I said it was 99 days since we passed our bill in that time of how many more people it was 4.2000000 more people have become infected four. 4.2. 4.2000000 since we passed our bill 88000 more people have died taking us past 175000 people you see the statements that are being made. If we wear a mask of 95% instead of 55% of people wear mask, the lives that could be saved going forward. well, Why don't we also learn from what has happened in the past when they said, we're gonna press the pause button. They forgot to tell the virus they were pressing the pause button. It didn't pause so it's uh so we have to we have to we must absolutely have an agreement as we go forward that helps state and Do their job to fight the Corona virus to educate our children to do so in a way that is safe and again honors our heroes pass something that is sufficient in terms of uh crushing the virus Instead, they're crushing the Affordable Care Act in court and the preexisting condition. So we have a this is not just about dollars and cents. It's about values and common sense and then to the last point. The voting is that um they don't pay any attention to what the president is saying because it is all designed to suppress the vote. He's gonna have law enforcement. that's in their bed we've seen um their playbook. It's in their playbook that they'll have people intimidated to vote by having ice agents who are or uh other law enforcement there uh to instill fear in people as they show up why Why are they here? What you know? it's scary. But ignore that it's a suppress the vote tactic as is the suppressing of the ability of the postal system uh to deliver uh on its responsibility to treat first ballots as first class mail and to deliver in a timely fashion and not and not um ignore the need for overtime. Uh not ignore the fact that so many members of the postal service have contracted the virus need for temporary uh uh. To fill that in and not ignore the fact, he said very politely, I have no intention of replacing those mailboxes. I have no intention of replacing the uh the um the machinery and the sorting machinery and that by the way is a that by the way is an issue in terms of sort and in the machinery to help do it So while I would say to the final part of your question is ignore them make a plan. Do so to vote early so that we will have an outcome that is clear as close to election night as possible. I say that because the more that vote by mail, there may be some counting after the election, but I hope that our victory will be so big. It'll be so big that it'll be so clear and by the way from the standpoint of the house, it is my political goal to win so big that we are putting down the down payment of winning for 2 years from now when you. Into voting and voting by mail once again, mister president you come in to my wheel house as chair of the party for a long time, Northern Chair and state party chair in California. Uh I had the experience of uh recognizing how important time is it's about time. It's about the time it takes to get the mail to the people to vote to get it to the post office to make sure it's there in a timely fashion. It's about the time it takes to print some of the uh. Both ballots as well as the persuasion, so I've been known to be there with my uh my friends and volunteers sitting there all night next to a printing machine to make sure somebody else didn't come in ahead of us uh with their with their mailer uh so that we could be on time uh for the post office. so this is uh this is exciting for our country. It's how we communicate. It's how we vote. It's how we protect the health and well-being of the American. And what they're doing both in the postal service until they got caught and what the president is saying and now his uh his move about putting law enforcement extra law enforcement people at the polls. Why would he do that except to scare people off? why pay attention to that? just honor the vision of our founders? The is a democracy and everybody's going to have the chance to vote and have their vote counted as cast. Another question, yes, ma'am, I have another subject. I wanna bring up so let's move on to Meadows is on the hill today and he tweeted who is. Oh, yeah he tweeted out a message to Democrats, saying if you really wanna help Americans how about relief for small businesses and employment a long with coastal coastal funding, you said that you don't wanna break things down, you said. That's to be focused on the postal service. That's right, What are you what about the members in your party? who think that maybe a vote on a smaller Hero's Act two to 2.4 $2.4000000000000 bill with a shorter time frame is perhaps a good idea. Well, let me just say you listed some things that what's his name put forth. He didn't say anything about schools. He didn't say anything about crushing the virus. He didn't say anything about people who are being evicted. He didn't say anything about food insecurity among millions of America's children. He didn't say anything about state and local that's completely unacceptable on the other hand. What I what my colleagues my colleagues, I welcome their suggestions and that we're all in sync. Said we would come down a $1000000000000. We're ready to negotiate at that level and uh again we're making some plans for some things that we wanna do next because it's what how many days until the election seventy-three or something 73 Day 99 days since the bill 73 days since the election and we're getting ready uh for this legislative session that comes and the legislative session that begins in January, so we have we're seeking our ca. His list is very deficient when it comes to our children, their child care their food their housing their education their health in terms of the virus and no just again state and local does do over 90% of the education I wanna bring up another subject that the president brought up this morning, which is very scary and everybody should take note of it. The uh the food and Drug Administration, The FDA has a responsibility. To approve with their judging on their safety and their efficacy, not by a declaration from the White House about speed and politicizing the FDA, this was a very dangerous statement on the part of the president even for him it went beyond the pale in terms of how he would jeopardize the health and well-being of the American people. Accused FDA of politics when he is the one who has tried to inject himself in the scientific decisions of the food and drug administration. One more question I have to go to the floor. Yes ma'am. How does it feel Joy comparative Benjamin Franklin We've experiences to bring to the She's in general. Let me also say Abraham Lincoln was a postmaster He was as well. I think Harry Truman work for the postal service. I don't know exactly what his title was uh so this uh this postal service has a great uh identification with leaders in our country. Uh I wouldn't use the word compare I would use the word contrast uh of Benjamin Franklin understood the value of bringing people together in our country. Uh he did not. It as a business enterprise, he believed it as in it as a service postal service, and that is what we have to support uh to bring it in and say, well, they're losing money and this or that really are we losing money on delivering prescription drugs to our veterans? Are we losing money and how we uh have people communicate with each other and our families and create jobs. Good. Jobs ninety-seven 97000 veterans who are employed by the postal service, uh if I think the biggest contrast would be one sees it as a service for the American people, the other sees it as a business enterprise and that is and that in value it's purpose and doesn't value. it's purpose uh the um but hopefully he will see the light as he sees the legislation and the Republicans. In refused to take it up, they're just gonna have to answer to their own constituents. uh why they don't want their mail delivered in a timely fashion or is it the rain or sleet nor snow or dark of night? We'll keep the courier from his or her now appointed rounds. uh that doesn't seem to be the purpose of the um current of leadership of the postal service. Thank you all see you on.