With Donald Trump stepping up his sabotage of the United States Postal Service (USPS) and Senate Republicans blocking lifeline aid to USPS for now 89 days, the ability of Americans to get their mail and cast their ballots is under unprecedented existential threat. U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) today released a slate of stories from North Jersey residents in the Ninth District describing the impact of Trump and Republicans’ vicious vandalism.

“Every day our office is hearing from our neighbors who cannot get their medicine, pay their bills, or cast their ballots because of Trump and Republicans’ deliberate attempts to destroy the post office,” said Rep. Pascrell, one of Congress’s leading champions of the post office. “One of the crown jewels of our nation is under manufactured siege, and every single American is paying the price for Trump’s sabotage. Not just day-to-day lives are at stake, but democracy itself. It is vital we hear those stories now.”

Postal turmoil stories from New Jersey’s Ninth Congressional District

“Some days no mail comes at all and then the following days my mailbox is full. Not sure if mail is being delivered in a timely fashion.” -Frank from Paterson

“Items that I have ordered have often been late. According to the tracking information, the items seem to stay several days in the distribution centers of the post office and arrive several days later than expected.” -Nicole from Garfield

“I pay bills by mail, and two monthly bills were not delivered at all. If I had not realized it in time, late payments could have negatively impacted my credit rating. Also, I received ordered items approximately a week later than the delivery date specified by the seller. The Postal Service has been one of the few services I have always felt could be relied upon. Unfortunately, I no longer believe that.” -Mary from Haledon

“My brother mailed me an important letter with a check in it my home, it took over 11 days to get to me, usually any mail from him takes 2 days. I mailed a check to a local doctor two weeks ago, and she has still not received it.” -Cynthia from Cliffside Park

“Many letters or packages which should take 2 or 3 days to be delivered took 14 days or more.” -William from Passaic

“Mail is being delivered sporadically. Payments to vendors are arriving late or not at all.” -Philip from Rutherford

“My medication is taking longer to get to me.” -Ira from Englewood

“Delivery has been spotty at best over the entire summer. There have been weeks with only one delivery. It has never been as bad as this before.” -Edward from Paterson

“The mail has been slow. We have a business and we never, ever have days where we are not getting mail or have very few pieces. Our insurance bill never arrived and when we needed to do business stuff with the post office, they were very apologetic that things will take longer. We have worked with the Paterson post office leaders and staff for years. They are amazing and committed.” -Carrie from Paterson

“Mailed my mortgage payment from Secaucus Main Post Office on 7-26, and it was not processed until 8-3. It normally would have been 2-3 days max.” -Janet from Secaucus

Since this crisis began, Rep. Pascrell has been aggressively demanding accountability. On May 21, Pascrell wrote to USPS Inspector General Tammy Whitcomb demanding an investigation of turmoil at the USPS, purportedly stemming from a pattern of interference engineered by the Trump administration in its efforts to destabilize the post office. On August 12, Pascrell again called on IG Whitcomb to probe postal turmoil.

Pascrell has been a leader in Congress demanding reform to return the USPS to its former glory and strengthen it so it remains an integral part of American life, goals he outlined in a well-received April 2019 essay in Washington Monthly. Pascrell is a cosponsor of H.R. 2382, the USPS Fairness Act that would finally remove the health care prefunding anchor that has been strangling USPS since 2007. Pascrell is also a strong supporter of widespread postal banking, and in June 2019 his bipartisan amendment allocating $1 million to begin funding a postal banking system was passed by the House of Representatives.