The U.S. Postal Service has been under intense scrutiny for making big changes to its operations that could make it more difficult for Americans to vote by mail in November. With a public outcry, Congress started to step in by forcing its leadership to come testify. Under that pressure, the postmaster general announced Tuesday that the Postal Service would be suspending all of its cost-cutting measures that have created such controversy.
But beyond that, lawmakers are limited in what they can do to help the Postal Service get ready for a presidential election conducted largely by mail. Here are some things they can do and have done.
Pressure Postal Service leadership — which worked
The Postal Service had said that in a month or two, it would revisit its cost-cutting new policies, such as having employees leave mail behind later in the day and banning overtime. Under pressure from Congress, it stopped those much sooner. Continue reading.