"So many of our service members, veterans, people who experience disabilities and rural Americans, their local post office is their lifeline. And I'll note that the change in volume you are seeing doesn't change the need for timely delivery of the essential necessary items that the American public relies on the Post Office for," Hassan said.

The bottom line on Friday, however, was that the postmaster general assured senators the mail would go through as intended, especially in support of the election.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah., asked whether DeJoy was confident that mail-in ballots would be received if people vote within seven days of the election.

"Extremely highly confident," DeJoy responded. "We will scour every, every plant ... each night leading up to Election Day; very, very confident."

USPS not immune from COVID-19

DeJoy said that in addition to procedural changes that he ordered within the Postal Service, delays also have resulted from problems with the coronavirus — worse in some areas suffering more.

"Employee availability average has dropped across the nation about 4%, but when you can go into some of these what I would say hot spots — Philadelphia, Detroit — there as much as 20-25%. Philadelphia has 750 routes and we have days where we're short 200 carriers and this can go on for a while," he said.

DeJoy also described the dispatch schedule for mail delivery trucks, implying that delays in getting mail onto the trucks is a temporary adjustment.

"This whole thing is an aligned schedule in theory, on paper — and we know there's lots of imbalances that we're finding as we went through this process," he said, adding that he expects mail delivery efficiency to increase to 97% on-time.

Controversial Changes

DeJoy's "transformative" overhaul, as he called it, involved cutting overtime for mail carriers, and according to The Washington Post, removing hundreds of mail sorting sorting machines.

It was made in the name of saving money: The USPS lost $9 billion last year and could lose $11 billion this year, DeJoy said earlier this month. But the changes led to almost immediate reports of mail delays and frustration from postal worker unions and accusations from Democrats of voter suppression and election sabotage.

"Mail is beginning to pile up in our offices, and we're seeing equipment being removed," said Kimberly Karol, president of the Iowa Postal Workers Union, in an NPR interview last week. "So we are beginning to see the impact of those changes."

Worries were already bubbling about how the changes would affect November's election, when more than half of all ballots cast are expected to be returned or delivered through the mail.

And Trump exacerbated those fears, when in a press conference and subsequent interview, he tied Postal Service funding to his hope about hampering mail-in voting expansions nationwide during the pandemic.

In response to the bipartisan backlash to those comments, DeJoy changed course and announced that his organizational changes would wait until after the election.

Democrats have made it clear they are still not satisfied, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling the statement "wholly insufficient" and "misleading."

In particular, Democrats say they want DeJoy not only to halt the changes, but also to work to reverse them and replace equipment that was removed, for instance.

Republicans: Oh, come on

Some of Trump's allies have scoffed at the flap over the Postal Service.

Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who convened Friday's hearing, said, "I have no doubt the Democrats are ginning these issues and these problems up into something that's it's not ... it's a false narrative designed to extract an advantage."

And in a note to lawmakers this week, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., dubbed Democrats' proposed bill to aid the Postal Service a "conspiracy theory act" and said there is no true urgent problem with the mail system.

"This bill is nothing but an attempt to fabricate a postal crisis for political purposes, while wasting taxpayer funds that aren't needed in order to appease unions and trial lawyers," Scalise wrote.

The legislation is scheduled for a vote on Saturday and is expected to pass in the House but not become law over opposition in the Republican-led Senate.

In an interview with NPR's Steve Inskeep, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., pushed back on claims that there have been large mail delays.

"People put something in the mail and it may take five days, it may take two days, it may take seven days," he said. "Mail does not have a promised delivery date."

Republicans control the Senate committee before which DeJoy appeared on Friday. Democrats control a House panel before which he is scheduled to appear on Monday.

Copyright NPR 2021.