Debbie Dingell: “Mr. Chairman, this is a most remarkable piece of legislation. It is a wonderful solution. It is a wonderful solution…”

“Mr. Chairman, this is a most remarkable piece of legislation. It is a wonderful solution. It is a wonderful solution seeking most actively for a problem. As a matter of fact, it is rushing wildly from point to point to find some problem that it can solve. In the process, it is knocking over the crockery and going to create enormous damage for the people of this country, for American industry, and for American telecommunications industries. It also is going to create enormous problems for the taxpayers of this Nation by subjecting them to enormous liability for an unconstitutional taking under the Tucker Act. The allegation is made that COMSAT is a monopoly. The simple fact of the matter is that within the last week, on April 24, as a matter of fact, the FCC declared that the COMSAT Corporation is a nondominant telecommunications carrier. As reported in the Wall Street Journal, FCC has found that COMSAT does not wield market power in 130 countries where it offers telephone services, 54 countries where it transfers occasional use of video, and in all countries where it offers long-term video needs. COMSAT has better than 20 major competitors. It is the major competitors of COMSAT who are around here whining for relief. Who are these unfortunate, penniless, downtrodden competitors of COMSAT? They are PanAmSat, and this bill has been described as a PanAmSat relief bill by Wall Street.”