Pelosi calls House back to address USPS conspiracy theory — but not coronavirus relief for Americans

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has summoned House members to return to Washington, D.C., this week to address what Democratic leadership is calling "postal service sabotage," a conspiracy theory that President Donald Trump is interfering with normal operations at the U.S. Postal Service to hinder the agency's ability to handle mail-in voting.

What did Pelosi say?

In a letter to House Democrats, Pelosi wrote:

Alarmingly, across the nation, we see the devastating effects of the President's campaign to sabotage the election by manipulating the Postal Service to disenfranchise voters. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, one of the top Trump mega-donors, has proven a complicit crony as he continues to push forward sweeping new operational changes that degrade postal service, delay the mail, and — according to the Postal Service itself — threaten to deny the ability of eligible Americans to cast their votes through the mail in the upcoming elections in a timely fashion.

The call to cut short the House's recess came after Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) released a statement demanding that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and Chairman of the USPS Board of Governors Robert Duncan testify before Congress about "postal service sabotage."

Why is this significant?

Pelosi and Democratic leadership have spent weeks blaming Republicans for Congress' failure to pass a second coronavirus-related economic package.

In fact, when the Senate went on recess Thursday — scheduled to return after the Labor Day holiday — Pelosi lashed out at Republicans.

"We are miles apart in our values. Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gave a damn. That isn't the case. This is very far apart," Pelosi said, The Hill reported.

It should, therefore, be noted that Pelosi is not summoning the House back to work on passing additional coronavirus relief. Instead, she is calling for the House to address what is little more than a widely circulated conspiracy theory.

As TheBlaze reported, Democrats are now laser-focused on pushing the baseless theory that Trump is undermining USPS operations to "sabotage" the election.

One such example of alleged sabotage is the removal of USPS mailboxes, which generated significant attention last week. Trump's opponents claimed he did this to potentially hinder mail-in ballots. However, the truth is that the USPS regularly removes the big blue mailboxes in low-traffic areas.

USPS spokesperson Kimberly Frum explained, the Washington Post reported:

Historically, mailboxes have been removed for lack of use and installed in growth areas. When a collection box consistently receives very small amounts of mail for months on end, it costs the Postal Service money in fuel and work hours for letter carriers to drive to the mailbox and collect the mail. Removing the box is simply good business sense in that respect. It is important to note that anyone with a residential or business mailbox can use it as a vehicle to send outgoing mail.

In fact, the USPS has removed hundreds of thousands of the mailboxes over the past several decades.

Another example is the removal of hundreds of mail-sorting machines. But even CNN reported that mail-sorting machines decommissioned in recent months had already been scheduled to be taken out of service. Decommissioning old and worn machines is routine practice for any business.

Nor is the president taking funds from the USPS.

In fact, the USPS is fully funded through fiscal year 2021 and even received a $10 billion loan from the Treasury Department last month. This means the postal service will be fully operational through the end of next year.