T. Gorton: “the U.S. Senate is the world's greatest deliberative body. The U.S. economy is the world's greatest free market. Lately…”

“the U.S. Senate is the world's greatest deliberative body. The U.S. economy is the world's greatest free market. Lately, it seems my friend and colleague from Utah, Senator Hatch, the distinguished chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, would like to use the one to squash the other. As my colleagues and most Americans know, Senator Hatch has joined forces with the success-busters of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice to carve out a special place in the market for companies that cannot compete on their own merits. All of this is being done at the expense of one of America's most successful and innovative companies--Microsoft. Last week, the Judiciary Committee, for the third time this year, served as a forum for frustrated business executives who have been outsmarted and out-innovated by Microsoft. I have continually voiced my objections at the Senate Judiciary's Committee's insistence on inserting itself into battles that should be fought in the free market, not in the Halls of the U.S. Senate or in the Justice Department. I have asserted my opinion that U.S. antitrust laws were written with the intent of protecting consumers, not inferior companies. And I have stood up against those who would like to see the federal government, not the free market, decide which companies are successful in this country and which are not.”