Patrick Leahy: “Today, we confirm R. Hewitt Pate to be Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division at the Department of…”

“Today, we confirm R. Hewitt Pate to be Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division at the Department of Justice. The Antitrust Division is charged with a critically important role in protecting our nation's consumers and their markets, and I look forward to Mr. Pate fulfilling that role with diligence and distinction. As the boundaries of our marketplaces are expanding ever outward, many of the competitive issues that were once only local have become regional, national, or even global in their impact. That global economy is also increasingly dominated by high tech and information industries. In those arenas, technological change and innovation are taking place at dizzying speed, and we are seeing new and creative products and services developed every day. Fair and efficient policing of corporate behavior in those swiftly evolving markets is particularly important to ensure that the early entrants do not preclude competition from later rivals, and that a rapid accumulation of market power cannot be used to harm consumers. Another hallmark of antitrust problems arising in recent years has been the increasing number of situations in which suppliers and distributors join forces, possibly to the detriment of consumers.”