DES MOINES, Iowa — During a Zoom call with United States Postal Service (USPS) representatives, Rep. Cindy Axne called for Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to resign from his position.
Axne's call comes after DeJoy proposed numerous changes to the USPS.
"While additional funding and operational changes are still necessary to solve this crisis, I have no faith that the current Postal Service leadership can be trusted to undo the damage," Axne said. "Intentionally obstructing the right to vote is already illegal, but disenfranchising Iowans in a way that puts their health and security of my constituents at risk as abhorrent and unacceptable."
"I won't stand for it. He needs to resign."
During Axne's conference call, DeJoy announced he would "suspend" several of his initiatives—including the removal of the distinctive blue mail boxes that prompted an outcry—until after the election "to avoid even the appearance of impact on election mail."
When asked about DeJoy's decision to suspend these changes, Axne said she's glad that he's making that step.
However, she still stood her ground on her call for DeJoy to resign.
"This is a guy who, in addition to implementing these issues, you know these changes so rapidly after him being appointed to this position, has come in and has shown no appreciation for the Postal Service," Axne said.
"Not to mention there's other underlying ethical issues that he possibly has in place with, you know with contracts where he has ownership of some companies related to the USPS. This is another example of this administration putting in big supporters of the president into positions of power, where they have no experience."
Issues at the Postal Service have erupted as a major election year issue as DeJoy, a Republican donor who took control of the agency in June, swiftly engineered cuts and operational changes.
These changes are disrupting mail deliveries across the country.
Changes also raised alarms that President Donald Trump is trying to undermine the agency ahead of the election, the Associated Press reported.
DeJoy is scheduled to testify next Monday before Congress.
John Harlan, a Vietnam veteran from Des Moines who receives his prescriptions through the mail, also spoke on the call.
"So, I had heard from a friend of mine up in Michigan, that they were having trouble with their ballots," Harlan said. "So, I thought, well maybe there is a slowdown."
"So, does this effect, does this impact my prescriptions?"
John went straight to the source to find his answer. For a normal prescription refill, John said it takes about four days to be sent to his home.
He was told that it would take more than two weeks for his prescription to be sent to his home.
As of Tuesday, he's still waiting for it.
"I immediately said this, 'This is not right,'" Harlan explained. "I'm not calling here just for myself ... I'm talking about the disabled, isolated, perhaps the diabetics, the people that are wounded, people that live in isolated areas out in the countryside where the only person they see is their post person or mail carrier."
Harlan also noted that veterans like himself may not realize that their mail might be delayed.
"So, once I found this out, alarms started going off, because you know I happen to be there when this whole thing started."
Watch the full video call below