President Donald Trump set off a firestorm last week when he suggested that he would not grant the U.S. Postal Service the funding it requested as a means of interfering with the vote-by-mail process.
The reaction was fierce.
"We have to get back to understanding that democracy itself should not be politicized. Democracy means that the people choose who they vote for," Andrea Hailey, CEO of Vote.org, told Cheddar on Monday. "It's the job of election officials to make voting as accessible and as easy as possible."
In the days after the president's remarks, images of the USPS removing mailboxes in different cities caused a frantic stir on social media, although the agency says it was part of routine redistribution. The agency says it will stop the practice for the time being and plans to decommission large-scale mail sorters have also been postponed until after the election.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a Trump appointee who just took the helm at USPS in June, will testify about election concerns before a House committee next week. Hailey expects Congress to grill DeJoy over the various cost-cutting measures that have been instituted since he took over in May.
"People need the post office not only for elections but to receive their medications, to receive their social security checks," Hailey said. "It is essential that we protect the postal service this year."
The U.S. approved updated COVID-19 vaccines Monday, hoping to rev up protection against the latest coronavirus strains and blunt any surge this fall and winter.
The Biden administration has cleared the way for the release of five American citizens detained in Iran by issuing a blanket waiver for international banks to transfer $6 billion in frozen Iranian money from South Korea to Qatar without fear of U.S. sanctions. In addition, as part of the deal, the administration has agreed to release five Iranian citizens held in the United States.
The U.S. government is taking aim at what has been an indomitable empire: Google’s ubiquitous search engine that has become the internet’s main gateway.
President Joe Biden departed Vietnam after meetings with President Vo Van Thuong along with other high-ranking officials, following his participation at the G20 summit in India.
