Lawmaker exposes what House Democrats are 'suddenly' stuffing in emergency USPS bill

The Democrat-controlled House will vote Saturday on new legislation related to the U.S. Postal Service amid controversy over operational changes.

But according to Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R) — the New Jersey congressman who famously left the Democratic Party last year — his former colleagues are stuffing something in the legislation that could change how the public interacts with the USPS.

What is the background?

According to CNN, the House is scheduled to vote on a bill that allocates an additional $25 billion of taxpayer money to the USPS. The legislation also temporary bans further operational changes.

From CNN:

Democratic leaders introduced the measure, based on a bill sponsored by House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat from New York, after the Trump administration made policy changes at the USPS. Those moves included cutting overtime for employees, limiting post office hours, and removing some high-volume mail sorting machines from USPS facilities. Democrats argue the policies were intended to impede mail-in voting ahead of the November election. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, an ally and donor of President Donald Trump, has denied the claims, saying the changes were intended to increase efficiency and save money.

What did Van Drew say?

Speaking on Fox News, the New Jersey Republican explained that Democrats have stuffed a provision in their legislation that would allow the public to sue the USPS.

According to Van Drew, if the provision became law, it would further burden taxpayers.

"They suddenly put in there that now you can sue the post office," he said. "We're going to have a lot more liability issues, a lot more costs, certainly more money for, I guess, attorneys, but a whole lot less money for the taxpayers."

"Who told them to do that? Who wants that? Why are we doing that?" Van Drew continued. "I don't understand what we're actually doing sometimes rather than getting good work ... accomplished for the people of the United States of America. It's just folks arguing with each other, and Democrats not wanting to cooperate, ever."

Saturday's vote is expected to fall down party lines, meaning it will be passed in the House. However, the bill is dead once it reaches the Republican-controlled Senate. The White House has also said that President Donald Trump would veto the bill.

Perhaps most shocking about the Democrat-sponsored legislation is that, according to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is forcing a floor vote despite the bill not yet having gone through the full committee process.

Anything else?

Despite conspiratorial claims, the USPS said Friday that, if every American voted by mail, the volume of ballots would still be just a fraction of the mail they handle every single day.