WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) said he wants changes proposed by the U.S. Postal Service for mail delivery in the Upper Peninsula put on hold.

Peters, Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, convened a hearing to examine the U.S. Postal Service’s current service, operations, and finances, including oversight of changes to the Postal Service s network and their potential impacts on mail delivery. The committee heard from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and other key Postal Service officials on how proposed changes could impact mail service across the nation. The committee also heard about facility and transportation changes that have caused service declines in locations and discussed the impacts additional proposed changes could have on service in rural areas — including in the Upper Peninsula.

“This hearing comes at a critical time for the Postal Service. Two years ago, I led the passage of the bipartisan Postal Service Reform Act, the first major reform to the Postal Service in over 15 years. This legislation set the agency on a more stable financial footing and provided critical transparency on local service to the public. The intent of this law was to help ensure the Postal Service can keep reliably serving all communities,” said Peters during his opening statement.

“Two years later, the Postal Service is implementing this legislation, including helping postal employees and retirees integrate their health care with Medicare. But the agency has also undertaken a series of changes on its own, reforms that it claims will help save money and improve operations. These operational changes appear to be significant. I have called on the Postal Service to pause these changes until it can show that they won’t undermine the agency s primary responsibility, to provide timely and reliable delivery to every community. Before moving forward, the Postal Service must study the locations that have been altered so far, investigate the root causes of disruptions, restore normal service, and understand the long-term implications of this plan.

During the hearing, Peters and the witnesses discussed the growing concerns over changes to the Postal Service’s network in Michigan and across the nation. The committee discussed regions where network changes have already been implemented and the significant problems and service disruptions they are experiencing. The chairman and witnesses discussed the importance of studying the impacts of future network changes in order to ensure they do not negatively impact the millions of Americans that rely on timely postal delivery for critical mail such as prescription drugs and pay checks.