Funding for the US Postal Service and election infrastructure has became a major sticking point in congressional talks on a coronavirus relief package, with President Donald Trump vowing to block any money to facilitate mail-in voting.
The stalemate in approving the deal means Americans affected by the coronavirus hit to the economy will be waiting longer for further aid.
The president has been railing against mail-in ballots for months as a possible source of fraud, despite little evidence it takes place and millions of Americans using the post office to cast absentee ballots for years.
The ability to vote without going to a polling place is especially important this year as people look for ways to vote without risking being infected by coronavirus.
a box of absentee ballots wait to be counted. Source: AAP
Mr Trump said his negotiators resisted Democrat calls for additional money to help prepare for voting during a pandemic that has killed more than 165,000 Americans.
"The items are the post office and the $US3.5 billion ($4.8 billion) for mail-in voting," Mr Trump told Fox Business Network, saying Democrats want to give the post office $US25 billion ($34 billion).
"If we don't make the deal, that means they can't have the money, that means they can't have universal mail-in voting.
"It just can't happen."
Democrats have cried foul, accusing Mr Trump and his party of trying to make it harder for Americans to vote, as opinion polls show him trailing his Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.
"I initially was hopeful this wasn't an intentional effort to throw the election," Democratic Senator Chris Coons said on MSNBC.
"I am gravely concerned given the recent changes in the leadership of the Postal Service that we've seen by the postmaster general, who I'll remind you was a major Trump campaign contributor."
The White House negotiating team of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has not met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in six days.
When the congressional Democrats and Trump's negotiators last met in person on Friday, they were some $US2 trillion ($2.7 trillion) apart in their negotiating positions.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll this week showed that Americans blame both parties for the standoff, which has led to the expiration of a $US600-per-week ($839) lifeline to unemployed people.
New Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who has donated $US2.7 million ($3.7 million) to Mr Trump and his fellow Republicans since 2017, has ordered operational changes and a clampdown on overtime, in a bid to fix the financially troubled Postal Service, which reported a net loss of $US2.2 ($3 billion) in the last quarter.
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