'I hope the Postmaster General comes prepared. I know I will,' says Rep. Katie Porter as DeJoy agrees to testify on USPS changes

Following demands by top congressional Democrats that he testify before the House Oversight Committee, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's office announced Monday that he will appear at a hearing August 24.

"I hope the Postmaster General comes prepared," committee member Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) tweeted Monday afternoon. "I know I will."

DeJoy, a Republican Party megadonor who holds investments in private companies that compete with the United States Postal Service, was appointed to the position on June 15, and his tenure has been rife with controversy.

He and the Trump administration are under scrutiny following public comments made by the president and DeJoy's recent actions to remove sorting machines and U.S. post office mail drop boxes from locations across the country. DeJoy walked back the box removal in response to public outcry after photos of the iconic mail boxes piled on to trucks and locked behind gates surfaced on social media.

Top Democrats in both the U.S. House and Senate called on DeJoy to explain his actions as the USPS warned 46 states last week that it may not have capacity to get mail-in ballots sent by voters to their polling locations in time to be counted this November, and activists are organizing protests to #SaveTheUSPS.

"The American people want their mail, medicines, and mail-in ballots delivered in a timely way," Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), chair of the Oversight Committee, said Monday in a statement announcing the August 24 hearing. "And they certainly do not want drastic changes and delays in the midst of a global pandemic just months before the election."