Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz barred from inspecting post office facilities

A congresswoman was barred from inspecting two U.S. Postal Service branches on Friday, with the federal agency claiming she did not give the post office enough advance notice before arriving at the locations. 

Florida Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz showed up at USPS facilities in Florida's Opa-locka and Northwest Miami-Dade on Friday, intending to investigate reports from postal employees of considerable amounts of undelivered mail there.

Yet upon arrival, Wasserman Schultz was barred from accessing the distribution facilities, with agency police preventing her from entering both locations. At one location, the parking lot was blocked off by caution tape and a USPS police car; at another, armed guards in the lobby prevented the congresswoman from conducting her inspection.

The post office later said in a statement that it hadn't been given enough notice before Wasserman Schultz's visit. 

"We spoke with her staff to explain that we were unable to set up the tour on such short notice, but would be happy to accommodate her at another time," agency spokeswoman Kim Fuller told media on Friday. "We look forward to working with the Congresswoman and her staff to arrange a visit in the near future." 

An aide with Wasserman Schultz's office, meanwhile, said that the congresswoman "[wasn't] asking for permission," and that the short notice of the visit was intentional. 

"I sit on the committee that has jurisdiction over the Postal Service," Wasserman Schulz said afterwards "Now they are not allowing a member of Congress to get a bird's eye view of what's going on so I can get to the bottom of this."