William Tauzin: “Mr. Chairman, let me say too, this is not about whether we want to break up the old monopoly of INTELSAT and Inmarsat…”

“Mr. Chairman, let me say too, this is not about whether we want to break up the old monopoly of INTELSAT and Inmarsat, these multination, governmentally owned cartels. This is not about that. We all agree that that ought to happen. This is not about that. This is simply about whether we in Congress are going to order the abrogation of contracts to an American company that have been tested in court and found to be voluntarily entered into when the people who entered those contracts had other options. There are several questions we ought to ask: Did they have other options? The answer is yes. The court found in summary judgment, they could have signed with PanAmSat, they could have signed with Loral, Teledesic, Columbia, Meridian, ELLIPSO. They could have signed with many cable companies that offer fiberoptic cable across the Atlantic. They chose to sign with COMSAT voluntarily. The second question that we should answer is, is, in fact, the 'fresh look' applicable to these contracts? The answer is yes, it is already the law. Anybody can go test them in court. The third question we should answer is, once they have been tested in court and found to be valid, voluntary contracts, should we in Congress substitute our judgments for the court's without a hearing on these contracts even, and declare that they can be abrogated? I suggest the gentleman put his finger on it. We took an oath.…”