The Democratic candidate in Alabama’s 1st Congressional District expressed concern Tuesday over Congressman Bradley Byrne, R-Alabama, voting against a bill to provide $25 million to the U.S. Postal Service, and that would block cost-cutting measures many worry are slowing the mail and could jeopardize mail-in, or absentee, voting.
Byrne on Tuesday said he voted against the Delivering for America Act because the bill was “political posturing” and the Postal Service’s crisis was “imagined.”
Photos of postal boxes being removed or locked, and mail-sorting machines sitting in trash bins and out in the open air, ordered removed from postal centers across the country, have been circulating across social media and in news reports in recent days. Internal Postal Service reports obtained by House Democrats show delays in mail delivery that coincide with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s cost-cutting measures and orders to remove the time-saving equipment.
James Averhart, the Democratic candidate, said in a statement Tuesday that Byrne has made clear whose side he’s on.
“And it isn’t the side of Alabamians. Thousands of Alabama seniors and veterans rely on the United States Postal Service to deliver their medication via mail. Veterans like me,” Averhart said. “Voting against fully funding the USPS, a service that Americans overwhelmingly support, is not just foolhardy, it’s dangerous.”
“Bradley doesn’t seem to care whether or not Alabamians receive their medication or Social Security checks on time. But we all know why he voted the way he did. He and folks like Mitch McConnel do not want people to be able to vote by mail, even during a pandemic. They are willing to endanger lives for political gain. We need leaders who will stand up for Alabama families, not politicians who prioritize demagoguery above democracy,” Averhart continued.
