WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski, Mark Begich, Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka today expressed their disappointment that the Postal Regulatory Commission is unable to schedule field hearings in Alaska and Hawaii on a Postal Service proposal to reduce mail delivery to five days a week.

The Commission has held hearings in seven cities in the Lower 48 on the proposal. In a letter last month to Ruth Y. Goldway, Chairman of the Commission, the senators said that mail delivery is different in Alaska and Hawaii, and that information gleaned from hearings in the Lower 48 “will bear little relevance to the concerns of the people of Alaska and Hawaii.” The lawmakers had asked the Commission to hold hearings in Alaska and Hawaii.

The Commission, which is reviewing a cost savings proposal by the Postal Service that would eliminate Saturday delivery, informed the senators this week that it would not hold hearings in Alaska and Hawaii, but invited the lawmakers to testify at commission hearings in Washington, D.C., later this summer.

Senators Murkowski, Begich, Inouye, and Akaka expressed disappointment in the Commission’s decision, but the lawmakers said they will continue to engage the Commission and the Postal Service on the possible implications of five-day delivery and encouraged all interested residents and business owners to share their views with the Commission at http://www.prc.gov.