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House Approves Bill to Provide $25 Billion to US Postal Service

© REUTERS / Rebecca CookA United States Postal Service (USPS) worker handles the mail in a drop-off box behind a post office in Oak Park, Michigan, U.S. August 17, 2020
A United States Postal Service (USPS) worker handles the mail in a drop-off box behind a post office in Oak Park, Michigan, U.S.  August 17, 2020 - Sputnik International
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WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US House of Representatives has passed a bill to provide $25 billion in support to the US Postal Service and block policy changes that could affect mail-in balloting during the 3 November presidential election.

On Saturday, the House voted 257-150 in favor of the bill. The legislation will now be up for a vote in the US Senate, which is expected to vote against it, according to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

"Senate Republicans are committed to making sure the Postal Service remains well equipped to fulfill its important duties. But the President has already made it clear he will not sign the Speaker's partisan stunt into law. And the Senate will absolutely not pass stand-alone legislation for the Postal Service while American families continue to go without more relief", McConnell said in a statement, released on his official Twitter account on Saturday.

Apart from providing $25 billion, the bill prohibits the US Postal Service from making any of the operational or service changes that were introduced on 1 January 2020 to ensure timely mail delivery during the November presidential election.

On Friday, the White House Office of Management and Budget in a letter said it will advise President Donald Trump to veto legislation funding the US Postal Service.

US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has implemented controversial changes that have caused delays ahead of the November vote. However, under criticism by Democrats, DeJoy announced a temporary pause in operational changes in the postal service.

Trump has said that the US Postal Service has been failing for decades and the planned reforms were meant to save it billions of dollars. Trump also said that mail-in ballots pose a risk of widespread fraud, citing the botched New York congressional primary race as an example.

Trump’s opponents say they believe the changes are delaying the mail and threatening to disenfranchise voters.

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