Many of us in the Philadelphia region are experiencing mail delays. A short-staffed and underfunded post office is unable to process even the relatively normal volume of mail at this time. This is a crisis waiting to happen.

We’re a mere three months away from a General Election that, in many ways, will look quite different from prior elections. I, along with many of my colleagues, am encouraging my community to vote from home this November, in order to stay safe, keep others safe and continue to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

We need to fund the post office yesterday. And that’s exactly what we did in May when we passed the HEROES Act through the House, which appropriated $25 billion to save the United States Postal Service and ends the Treasury Department's blockade of the $10 billion loan previously authorized for USPS in the CARES Act.

Three months later, the Senate and Administration have done nothing.

Well, not nothing. The Administration is blatantly, and with impunity, cutting off oxygen to the US Postal Service and the consequence, particularly during this global pandemic, is voter disenfranchisement. People will be unable to make their voices heard on November 3rd. This is NOT a partisan issue. People of all political persuasions should be alarmed and letting their representatives in both the House and Senate know this cannot stand.

The United States Postal Service, which traces its origins back to 1775 when our very own Benjamin Franklin became the first postmaster general, has become a partisan issue. Let that sink in.