Kevin McCarthy slams Democrats’ concerns about postal service as ‘conspiracy theory’

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy criticized the Democrats Wednesday for pursuing a “baseless” agenda with their U.S. Postal Service bill.

The California Republican dismissed Democrats’ concerns about recent policy changes at the postal service, put in place by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, as a “conspiracy theory.”

“Instead of listening to the experts and analyzing facts, the Speaker opted to slander the Postmaster General by using baseless accusations and attacking his character,” Mr. McCarthy wrote in a Dear Colleague letter.

“At a time when it should be all-hands-on-deck, House Democrats this week decided to extend their shadow voting scheme by granting themselves permission to vote from home through October 2. It will be interesting to see how many of their members will even bother to show up for the ’emergency’ session,” he continued.

Mr. McCarthy cited a New York Times op-ed from Ruth Y. Goldway, a former postal service regulator, in which she argued the USPS was entirely capable of handling election mail and wasn’t “incapacitated.”

He also argued the USPS will be “financially solvent” until August 2021 and noted the service will receive $10 billion in loans from the Treasury Department because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Democrats are set to vote Saturday on a bill that will revert any operation policies to what was in place in January 2020 and provide $25 billion in funding.

The new policy changes reportedly included cuts to overtime pay and changes to mail routes, which have lead to widespread claims of delays.

Last week, the postal service notified nearly every state that it wouldn’t be able to guarantee mailed ballots would be delivered in time to count for the November elections.

In order to “avoid the appearance of any impact on election mail,” Mr. DeJoy said Tuesday he was suspending those cost-cutting policies.

Mr. McCarthy said when the House reconvenes, it should be to focus on broader coronavirus relief instead.

In particular, Mr. McCarthy wants there to be work done on the small business Paycheck Protection Program, funding for schools, liability protections and vaccine resources.