DeJoy correctly says that there should be no problem with mail-in ballots. "There will be absolutely no issue." That should be the case!
But if so, why is mail taking weeks to be delivered right now?

Sorry, will thread. There's a disconnect between these all being normal processes, with the blue boxes, sorting machines (they are normal) and the mail grinding to a halt the moment DeJoy gets into office.
(the answer is deliberately dumping manpower)

Again, all of this sounds extremely sensible, given all the drops in volume, except for the inconvenient fact that mail has slowed down in the past 67 days

And if your business cannot perform its basic function if you cut overtime, you lack staff. Bottom line. You don't need six sigma management analysis for that.

It's untrue that DeJoy had "no help in sight." The $10 billion line of credit, still untapped, was approved by Congress by the time he got into place.

"Unfortunately, our production processing within the plants did not align with this schedule." He prioritized cost savings over delivery.

Peters: "You acknowledge that some of the changes that were put in place have delayed the mail, and that has hurt people?"
DeJoy: "Yes sir"
That's the ballgame. Everything else is distraction.

Peters says he's spent over a month asking for documentation about the operational decisions. Staff hasn't responded.

Peters reveals a chart starting in July from the Eastern Division showing a dramatic drop in on-time delivery.

DeJoy now shifts to blaming the pandemic for the drop in delivery. The pandemic has been going since March. The drop only started in July.

DeJoy claiming that OT was never eliminated or curtailed and that mail hasn't been left behind. JFC WaPo has revealed the memos saying just this.

DeJoy commits to not bringing back any processing machines. "They're not needed sir."
Claims he hasn't spoken with Trump about the changes. Asks if he was spoken to Mnuchin. Long pause. "I told him I was working on a plan," claims no great detail.

DeJoy says that any relationship between mail slowdown and the election is an "outrageous claim."
"My first election mail meeting, I instructed... whatever efforts we have, double them."

Peters asks if ballots will be allowed to be sent as marketing mail while being treated as first class.
DeJoy agrees to this.
(of course that slowdown starting in July applies to first class mail as well)

DeJoy notes that he's voted by mail for "a number of years."

Critical information in those letters to 46 states is being elided. The letters said very specifically that marketing mail would take longer, even though today DeJoy is saying that all election mail will be treated as first class.

The letter literally recommended that states pay nearly three times as much for mailing ballots. That's different than what DeJoy is saying today.

Portman: "When the production doesn't meet the transportation schedule, there should be some effort to align those two."
Um, yeah!!

Carper drops 3 F-bombs in a Veep-style special as he struggles to figure out the webcam

Carper resets himself but he's just giving a speech.

Carper making the point that the history of voter suppression (and Trump's own words) aligned with the sudden delay as soon as the Trump donor takes over the USPS, even if coincidental, would always trigger alarm and suspicion.

DeJoy: "We're considering dramatic changes to serve the American people."

Lankford says there was no complaint about the post office ever before 67 days ago. I think he said that to attack the Democrats but it's an indictment of DeJoy!

Nobody would be saying a word about DeJoy's tenure if mail didn't dramatically and demonstrably slow down.

Lankford correctly saying there's enough capacity to handle elections. In theory, there is!
The question is, why was there not enough capacity to handle mail in the middle of July?

Hassan also giving a speech. Gee, having a top prosecutor who sits on the committee asking the questions might have been a good idea.

Hassan catches DeJoy in the disconnect between what he said in testimony (election mail just like first class) and what's in the letters to 46 states (election mail that's not first class won't be sent as quickly)

Hassan notes that there's only one sorting machine for the state of New Hampshire. Classic management strategy: no redundancy, "just in time" logistics, hidden risk.

Hassan asks if postal workers have been retaliated against for speaking out, citing some examples. Asks for DeJoy's commitment that there will be no retaliation. DeJoy says yes.

DeJoy says "the board will have to speak for their evaluation of me."
One of them did yesterday! He said you didn't seem like a serious candidate and the governor that brought you in was finishing your sentences for you https://prospect.org/politics/top-postal-service-official-details-mnuchin-extortion-effort/

Jacky Rosen now up, asks if DeJoy will commit will submit all documents from closed Board of Governors meetings by Sunday.
DeJoy "No"

After that rapid fire questions, another speech gives DeJoy a break.
Rosen says "my colleagues have already mentioned this"
Then you don't have to, ask a question!

Rosen asks if there was an analysis to see how seniors or veterans would be impacted by the operational changes.
DeJoy deflects but that's a no. He had no idea what the impact of his policies would be.

Rosen: any analysis of late fees if bills and rent were late?
DeJoy: the analysis we did is that if we moved the mail on schedule on-time delivery would be improved.
IOW no.

Rosen notes that this didn't improve service.
"For a variety of reasons," DeJoy says. Trumpian blame-shifting.

Paul thanks DeJoy for "bringing your business acumen" to USPS.
His business acumen was the entire problem! DeJoy's business management change destroyed everything.

Paul asks if a VC named DeJoy CEO of USPS what would he be able to fix?
This is Paul's usual "government can't do anything right" piffle, completely demolished by events. Government was doing fine until they sent the business guy in.

DeJoy responds that he would undertake new business revenue. That's banned by the 2006 law.

Paul encouraging DeJoy to drop to 5 days a week mail and even under that for rural areas. This is an attack on the mail and not even DeJoy will go along with it, wants to stay with 6 days.

Romney correctly saying DeJoy contributed to Trump's campaign and my campaign. "So some would say you contributed to both sides."

Romney asks are there greater delays in certain areas than others?
DeJoy: "I think more urban areas where the virus scares our workers."
Again, the pandemic started in MARCH. The drop in mail doesn't happen until July.

What was happening between March and July that didn't occasion this slowdown?
It's also actually pretty shameful that DeJoy is shaming workers for not showing up (only under him I suppose)

Enzi: "It must be hard only being in office 60 days and being expected to solve all the problems of the postal service."
Well, no, he was expected to have the mail delivered on time, as it was right up until he got there

Enzi mentions that he personally waited 11 days for a piece of mail, and he thought DeJoy was responsible but he learned today it wasn't (so it was those damn freeloader workers?)

Hawley has been playing ball, now gets to the $10 billion line of credit, asks when it will be available to USPS.
DeJoy says the terms have been agreed to (they have, the terms are really bad). Says you'd have to know how to pay it back to take it. "cannot use it for capital"

DeJoy wants to use the $10 billion to upgrade vehicles, but he can't under the terms that Mnuchin demanded.

Johnson claiming that DeJoy's operational changes made a "dramatic improvement," actually
I guess we'll look past more and more people not getting their mail on time.

"This is very doable, FedEx and UPS do it," DeJoy says. Well maybe the problem is you then.

Sinema: "The hearing today shouldn't just be about elections." She's correct. DeJoy's actions have broken down essential national infrastructure, and there were going to be obvious external consequences from that.

Clear that none of the Democrats in this hearing watched or were briefed on David Williams' comments yesterday.

Sinema asks DeJoy to take into account negative customer experiences when making decisions in the future.
Like, you know, any executive of a customer-facing business would do.

Propaganda from Ron Johnson about how COVID affected USPS service.
But NOT UNTIL JULY for some reason

Peters stresses that these are real concerns and not manufactured.
The truth is that Republicans and business managers are aligned in not caring about the consequences of their actions.

YES! Peters notes that COVID has been around since March but there's been a dramatic drop only since mid-July. You can't wiggle out with the COVID excuse.

Peters to DeJoy: "I know you have a very hard job. And frankly you've made it worse on yourself with the lack of transparency."

Johnson intimates that the complaints are "highly scripted." So QAnon for postal complaints.