Political Quotes

“Madam President, I rise today to speak about amendment No. 3788, an amendment essential to protecting consumers. As we work to rein in the excesses of Wall Street and shore up our economy, we must do all that we can to ensure consumers can get discount prices from retail stores at the very time when they need them the most. My amendment will restore the nearly century old rule that made it illegal under antitrust law for a manufacturer to set a price below which a retailer could not sell a product--a practice known as ``resale price maintenance'' or ``vertical price fixing.'' This rule was overturned in June 2007 by a narrow 5-4 majority of the Supreme Court in the Leegin case. My amendment is identical to the Discount Pricing Consumer Act--a bill which has 10 cosponsors and passed the Judiciary Committee last month. Our bill has been endorsed by 39 State attorneys general, the leading consumer groups, as well as numerous antitrust experts, including former FTC Chairman Pitofsky. For 96 years until the Leegin decision the rules were clear. Manufacturers could not set a retail price, and retailers could not be prevented from discounting. Millions of consumers saw the benefits of discount prices every day. Thousands of retailers all across the country were able to discount their products and sell their goods at the most competitive prices.…”