Rep. Chris Jacobs, R-N.Y., claimed to side with House Democrats to provide a $25 billion boost in funding for the U.S. Postal Service, but said he accidentally “hit the wrong button” Saturday.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a USPS funding package with 26 Republicans breaking party lines in a 257-150 vote on the Democrat-backed bill aimed at ensuring smooth mail-in voting this presidential election.
“[A]fter announcing that he was voting yes on the Dem post office bill, @RepJacobs just called me to tell me he accidentally voted no. “I must’ve hit the wrong button,” he told me. Updated story coming shortly,” Jerry Zremski, the Washington bureau chief for The Buffalo News, tweeted following the vote Saturday.
Fox News confirmed that Jacobs voted against the bill.
HOUSE PASSES $25B IN ‘EMERGENCY’ POST OFFICE FUNDING, WHITE HOUSE THREATENS VETO
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi called the rare “emergency” vote in the middle of summer recess, in an attempt to pass a bill that fights back against what some believe is an attempt by President Trump and the Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, to sabotage the Nov. 3 presidential election.
The bill would not only provide a one-time funding initiative, but it would reverse any new cost-cutting measures the Postal Service has recently taken, and ban efforts that attempt to slow down mail.
Zremski tweeted that Jacobs “was on the way to the airport, called the House and was told he was too late to make a change, to his voting mistake.”
HOUSE DEMOCRATS PUSH FORWARD WITH $25B POST OFFICE BILL, GOP DISMISSES RARE SATURDAY VOTE AS A ‘JOKE’
Though the bill passed in the House with GOP support, the GOP-led Senate is not expected to pass the bill and the White House has already said it will veto it.
“Representatives of the Post Office have repeatedly stated that they DO NOT NEED MONEY, and will not make changes,” Trump tweeted after the vote passed.
“This is all another HOAX by the Democrats to give 25 Billion unneeded dollars for political purposes, without talking about the Universal Mail-In Ballot Scam.”
Trump already admitted to openly trying to stop USPS funding in order to prevent mail-in voting during the election.
Conservative lawmakers on the Hill were quick to call reported delays “conspiracy theories” — despite the Postmaster General apologizing for such delays Friday.
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Rep. Carolyn Maloney, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, submitted an internal document that shows significant drops in recent service standards at the USPS.
“To those who still claim there are ‘no delays’ and that these reports are just ‘conspiracy theories,’ I hope this new data causes them to re-think their position and support our urgent legislation today,” Maloney, D-N.Y., said Saturday.
Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.
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