proud to be joined by my fellow house colleagues from South Florida uh several of whom will be joining us uh through zoom uh and their audio uh we'll be able to be here clearly during the uh during the press conference, I know everyone is very busy, especially because today is Florida's primary. Uh I'm gonna erase myself so I'll I'll be brief uh but this issue is of paramount importance to every American and it's the only Democrat from Florida that sits on the House Oversight Committee that oversees the Postal Service. Uh I am here today. I must call out the president for his sinister attempts to destroy our Postal Service. I'm here to warn Donald Trump don't mess with the USPS with a little over 2 months until Election Day. Trump's only hope for reelection is to create chaos and he's abusing our trusted and treasured mail carriers to sow the seeds of that chaos for 3 years, Trump Stoke division he tax breaks on the wealthy and tried to snatch health care protections for middle class Americans. Now, he's closing out his disastrous one-term presidency with a deadly botched mishandling of the pandemic and the resulting economic collapse His only hope to hold on to the White House now is to undermine our democracy and the institutions that bind our great country together two pillars of that Democratic foundation are Americans right to vote and the US Postal Service. Our neighbors need their mail from medicines for social security checks, and they need them on time. And that is not happening right now the slowdown of the Postal Service is a boring and evident we're getting calls in my district office rampantly from constituents who's male has either stopped or slowed to a trickle our businesses that are already struggling to survive. They don't need sporadic deliveries, frustrated customers and more economic turmoil and uncertainty We have millions of seniors in Florida who are fail who are already needing to stay at home and who are. Getting their medicine that is delivered to them through the Postal Service these stories of exasperation unfortunately are echoing through my district repeatedly right now, but you know what I don't hear from my constituents. No one tells me they want radical Postal Service changes and delays I made a global pandemic all just months before historic election on Monday, Postmaster General Lewis to Joy a Trump Mega donor will come to Congress where he will face the House Oversight Committee on which I serve well, he better come prepared. The complicit crony that he is has ushered in sweeping new operational and staffing changes that deliberately erode our postal system and delayed and delayed the mail even more frightening these disruptions threaten to deny eligible Americans a fair chance to cast their votes through the mail on November 3rd. There is so much at stake in this election and all of us will tell you just what the stakes are every single day until Election day. But all of that is meaningless if our very constitutional right to a fair vote is taken away because Donald Trump is taking. Crowbar to the Postal Service, and that is why the house will return to Washington on Saturday to vote on legislation that prohibits the Postal Service from implementing any changes to operations or level of service that it had in place on January 1st 2020 amid a pandemic we must protect this institution from the Trump campaign's intentional effort to create chaos. No American should face this choice, their health or their vote. That is what's at stake here and as we protect the poster. And access to the ballot, we must continue to fight for the Heroes Act, which local and state governments unemployed families, schools and small businesses still desperately need that is legislation that the House Democrats in the majority passed over 3 months ago, so many lives in the health and welfare of American families hanging in the balance, and with Trump attempting to undermine our American democracy, We cannot, we must not and we will not stay back and stay silent. I want all Floridians Republicans independents. Democrats alike to tell this president to stay out of our mailboxes. Don't mess with the USPS now I'd like to turn it over to my colleague and friend Congressman Ted Deutch, who is participating remotely Congressman Deutch I thank you very much Thanks Debbie for for bringing us all together. It's good to be with you and uh and our other colleagues and I'll be very brief uh what's happening now is a raisin. And corrupt campaign by a desperate president and his partisan appointee to deliberately Disrupt the mail service in order to influence the election so that he can attempt to remain in power. That's it. but what we can't forget is that this won't just affect the election on a daily basis, it will affect the delivery of prescriptions and social security benefits and paychecks. mailing ballot. A millions of Americans will be affected as we head into the election, including those in our most remote communities. Now I'll just finish with this. We know we know that the president will to any level for his own political gain. We've seen that over and over again, but we're not going to wait. We're not gonna wait for the president. We're not gonna wait for the postmaster General to get their way. uh we're gonna come back to. And we're counting Donald Trump hands off our we're gonna pass legislation on Saturday to block any change to the service that existed in the beginning of the year. I'm eager to get back to do exactly that we need to stand up to make sure that this election runs smoothly and we cannot and we will not allow the president and his handpicked partisan crony to determine what happens in this election. To protect the votes, that's what we're going to do. Thank you so much Congressman Deutch now I'd like to turn it over to my colleague and friend Congresswoman Frederico Wilson, who is also participating remotely and who's district. we are in many of the employees in the Opelika Postal facility out here at constituents as well. Congresswoman Wilson Thank you Congressman Uh BWS. Thank you so much um before we begin please. Me and remembering one of my constituents Richardson, 41, who's life was taken by call it nineteen on July 21st twenty let's Richardson walk for the Postal Service as a mail carrier for almost 20 years and in district 24 where you are today, we are mourning Allah and the loss of hundreds of other victims in district twenty. Which has been grabbed by the Corona with a vengeance so today the House Democratic Caucus is embarking on a bold mission on this day of national action each member of our caucus will visit a post office in their district to highlight the sabotage That's taking place in local post offices across America in an effort. Pre-delivery and capacity and ultimately rig the November election today, I'm focusing on the male processing center in Ope lock, which we're all concerned about this is the three-point mission for me. First, I'm possibly reelection and today is primary Day for me and secondly. I attended to vote by mail and track my ballot online, but after hearing all of the stories of my constituents, all of the calls that I get every day, I will vote at my local polling place because I personally want to be absolutely certain that my vote is counted and thirdly. my message will be for the next. The voting on November 3rd, I will mail my ballot back in on the very same day that I received it from the supervisor of elections, which will be a month or so before Election day to ensure that it is coming our all and encourage my constituents to do the same and if it doesn't reach the board of elections the departments by Election Day are held. Because I will track my online of the day, I received it until the day it is counted, which is what I train my constituents. How to do also so my new motto will be live it early and track it online because the Corona was not threaten our lives. We will still vote by mail and it will be the army. Will be counted the November election the most consequence of the election of our lifetime So in it is our duty as members of. All ended this is the uh the iPad I got too hot the I overheated. The iPad overheated so here while we try to get them back here at Mike Take the iPad, please. We'll try to get them back and we'll turn it over to Congress. Congresswoman power right now, you won't yes. Alright. good afternoon everybody. As we all know as Americans that the US Postal Service is essential in every single way, Americans rely on the US Postal Service to get medicine for seniors veterans letters from loved ones who are serving in the military and small businesses and entrepreneurs rely on the Postal Service to get their customers and their businesses through this crisis and just to give you a few numbers on how this affects my district Florida's 26th district about 9000 postal workers in South Florida rely on the Postal Service to put food on their table and pay for their bills pay nearly. Thousand veterans and 117000 seniors living in my district rely on the Postal Service for the medicine, but as we see just 80 days from Election day, the president is doing everything in his power to dismantle the Postal Service and directly interfere and free and fair elections sabotaging the US election is straight from the authoritarian playbook. These are tactics. By the calves in Latin America, the new postmaster General Louie Desi is a major Trump donor who has massive financial conflicts of interest with the federal agency he runs while our Republican colleagues in Washington to the president interfering in our elections, the House Democrats and myself are doing everything we can to protect the postal service so it keeps working for every American this Saturday. The House is calling a special session to vote on delivering for America. This piece of legislation will preserve the Postal Service and stops the changes postmaster General Debi is making from going into effect until after the election and next Monday the postmaster General the House Oversight Committee. he needs to answer to our questions on why he is dismantling our Postal Service right before an election why he wants to take jobs from almost 600. 600000 Americans and why is he fighting to stop people from? In November, this is not about politics. It's about protecting our democracy and our people. Ceos and dependent Justamente antes de las elecciones del presidente está haciendo todo en su alcance para desmantelar el servicio postal para interferir en elecciones libres y justas el servicio postal está siendo manipulado para tratar de sabotear las elecciones americanas están usando las mismas tácticas que nosotros los hispanos sabemos muy bien que usan los caudillos y los dictadores en América Latina, el nuevo director general. del Correo, Luis, Donald Trump conflict the camera. directors. Tener muchas preguntas que va a testificar en frente del Comité de Supervisión de la Cámara y le vamos a preguntar cuál es mi miedo por qué está haciendo estos cambios antes de las elecciones y por qué no está dejando que el proceso electoral funcione como siempre ha funcionado en este país muchas gracias.