Democrats demand 'urgent' hearing with Postmaster general next week as White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows insists USPS sorting machines WON'T be taken offline ahead of November

Democrats are calling for Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to appear for an 'urgent' hearing before the House Oversight and Reform Committee next Monday.

'House Democrats… are ramping up their ongoing investigation by requesting that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and Chairman of the USPS Board of Governors Robert Duncan testify at an urgent hearing before the Committee on August 24,' a statement released Sunday demanded.

The statement was released by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Committee on Oversight and Reform Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney and Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Ranking Member Gary Peters.

'The Postmaster General and top Postal Service leadership must answer to the Congress and the American people as to why they are pushing these dangerous new policies that threaten to silence the voices of millions, just months before the election,' the statement adds.

The statement came at the same time White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows ensured to CNN's Jake Tapper that mail sorting machines will not be decommissioned.

'Sorting machines between now and the election will not be taken offline,' Meadows said during an interview with 'State of the Union.'

This is a response to reports that in an attempt to further inhibit the Post Office from being able to handle universal mail-in voting in November, the postmaster general is ordering machines to be taken offline.

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Democrats are demanding that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy appear for an 'urgent' hearing on Capitol Hill next Monday to answer why the Post Office is 'pushing these dangerous new policies that threaten to silence the voices of millions, just months before the election'

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Democrats released a statement Sunday calling DeJoy to testify before Congress about 'Postal Service Sabatoge'

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The letter was written and signed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (top left), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (top right), House Committee on Oversight and Reform Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (bottom left) and Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Ranking Member Gary Peters (bottom right)

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Recent changes at the U.S. Postal Service are causing widespread delays in delivering letters and packages, causing some to blame President Donald Trump for potentially compromising efforts to implement universal mail-in voting in the November election

Meadows also insisted that the issues with existing machines and processes for intaking and sorting mail is actually the fault of former President Barack Obama.

'That was a 2006 bill that has been implemented that I don't necessarily agree with. But that was not this postmaster general that did that. That was the previous postmaster general under Obama,' Meadows lamented.

Democrats say Republicans are trying to sabotage the November 3 election as millions of votes are expected to cast ballots by mail due to the coronavirus.

Trump has leveled over the last few months an unprecedented attack at the USPS, opposing efforts to give the cash-strapped agency more money even as changes there have caused widespread delays in delivering letters and packages.

'They need that money in order to have the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots,' Trump told Fox News on Thursday, adding, 'but if they don't get those... that means you can't have universal mail-in voting.'

Widespread mail-in voting, he added on Saturday, would be a 'catastrophe.'

Democrats on Sunday pushed back forcefully.

Some called for the House of Representatives to return early from summer recess to take action to protect the postal service, a call that found an echo from a senior Republican eager to seal a deal on a huge new coronavirus relief package.

'I am deeply, deeply concerned' by Trump's stance on the postal service, Senator Bernie Sanders said on ABC's 'This Week.'

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DeJoy (second from left) is shown here exiting the Capitol earlier this month after meeting with Pelosi and Schumer 

Sanders had sought his party's presidential nod but instead will be speaking Monday in support of Joe Biden on the opening day of the Democrats' four-day nominating convention, held virtually for the first time.

Sanders called Trump's assertion that it was Democrats who were blocking postal funding 'pathetic,' adding, 'The House should come back and make sure the postal service is fully funded.'

Congressional Democrats say the hearing later this month should help clear up some of the confusion and hold those accountable who are trying to stop mail-in voting.

'The hearing will examine the sweeping operational and organizational changes at the Postal Service that experts warn could degrade delivery standards, slow the mail and potentially impair the rights of eligible Americans to cast their votes through the mail in the upcoming November elections,' the statement released Sunday declares.

Trump has railed against mail-in voting for months, claiming a universal remote voting measure could lead to higher levels of voter fraud and would disproportionately benefit Democrats.

CNN's take Tapper asserted to Meadows on Sunday: 'There's no evidence of widespread voter fraud.'

'There's no evidence that there's not either. That's the definition of fraud,' the chief of staff argued.

Meadows added that the Democrats could obtain more postal funding to bolster mail-in voting efforts if they are ready to make a deal on the stimulus package.

'If my Democrat friends are all upset about this, come back to Washington' to reach agreement on a stimulus package including aid for small businesses, he said during his appearance on CNN.

'Put the postal funding in there. We'll pass it tomorrow,' Meadows said. 'The president will sign it.'

Biden has dismissed the president's stance as 'Pure Trump,' saying, 'He doesn't want an election.'

And Senator Kamala Harris, who is slated to accept the party's nomination as Biden's running mate on Wednesday, tweeted: 'We cannot let Donald Trump destroy the United States Postal Service.'

Trump has long been a critic of the postal service, insisting it is poorly managed, but his latest charges come at a time when he trails Biden in most polls. An NBC News-Wall Street Journal survey released Sunday showed the former vice president with a nine point lead over Trump among registered voters.

The matter has drawn intense attention across the country -- the postal service being one government agency that directly touches every American.

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Demonstrators gather outside the home of US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to voice their anger over concerns about the viability of mail-in voting for the 2020 presidential election

On Saturday, protesters gathered at the Washington home of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a recent Trump appointee, blaring horns and banging pots in anger.

USPS spokesman David Partenheimer attributed changes at the agency to its poor financial state.

'We are not slowing down election mail or any other mail,' he told AFP.

'The Postal Service is in a financially unsustainable position, stemming from substantial declines in mail volume and a broken business model,' he explained.

He called on Congress and regulators to enact reforms.

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President Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested that mail-in voting is susceptible to widespread fraud -- an argument not backed by experts

But Congress remains deadlocked over a new stimulus bill to follow the $2.2 trillion CARES Act package passed in March.

Democrats have proposed giving the USPS billions of dollars in funding. Trump, after initially saying he opposed that, said Friday that perhaps some new funds could be included in a compromise.

The president said candidly in April that mail-in voting 'doesn't work out well for Republicans.' He has repeatedly described such ballots as prone to fraud.

Experts disagree.

A study this year by New York University's Brennan Center for Justice found that 'it is... more likely for an American to be struck by lightning than to commit mail voting fraud.'

In an interview, American Postal Workers Union President Mark Dimondstein blamed the nationwide slowdowns in mail deliveries on measures implemented by DeJoy, a Republican fundraiser who has pledged to reform the agency.

Dimondstein said overtime for postal workers was recently reduced. That, combined with the around 40,000 workers who have had to quarantine since March because of COVID-19, has created delays.

'But the same work is still there to get done,' Dimondstein said.

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Some say the US Postal Service (USPS) is unduly removing street mailboxes before the 2020 election

As concerns mount over the USPS's ability to handle the expected surge in ballots, states are working to ensure their residents' votes count.

Pennsylvania this week asked its supreme court to push back its deadline for accepting mail-in ballots.

In a court filing, it cited a letter from a USPS official to the state warning of 'a risk that ballots requested near the deadline under state law will not be returned by mail in time to be counted.'

The Washington Post reported on Friday similar notices were sent to 45 other states and the District of Columbia.

Dimondstein said he hoped Trump's 'brazen challenge to the democratic right -- that somehow he's going to starve this institution to suppress the vote -- somehow gives more impetus to Congress to react.'

'Congress needs to act, and they need to act soon,' he said.