HOUSE APPROVES BILL GIVING $25-B TO US POSTAL SERVICE

The US House of Representatives approved legislation Saturday to allocate $25 billion to the US Postal Service and ban operational changes that have slowed mail service around the country, Haley Byrd, Clare Foran and Ali Zaslav reported for CNN on August 23, 2020.

The bill passed 257-150, largely along party lines, with Democrats supporting it. More than two dozen Republicans joined Democrats in voting for the measure, defying House GOP leaders and President Donald Trump, who actively urged Republicans to oppose it. On the eve of the vote, the White House threatened to veto the bill. The measure isn't expected to reach Trump's desk, however, as the Republican-held Senate is unlikely to vote on it.

The Republicans who crossed party lines to vote for the legislation include a handful of members facing competitive reelections or retiring, others who sometimes buck their party and several from deep-red districts.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had predicted bipartisan support for the USPS legislation ahead of the vote Saturday. "We will pass the bill and it will be in a bipartisan way today and then we will send it to the Senate," Pelosi said, adding that Republicans "will be hearing from their constituents because this hits home -- not receiving your mail in a timely fashion, hits home." 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.