Jim Sensenbrenner: “Mr. Speaker, in 1972, Justice Thurgood Marshall wrote the following in the case of United States v. Topco Associates…”

“Mr. Speaker, in 1972, Justice Thurgood Marshall wrote the following in the case of United States v. Topco Associates, Inc.: ``Antitrust laws in general, and the Sherman Act in particular, are the Magna Carta of free enterprise. They are as important to the preservation of economic freedom and our free enterprise system as the Bill of Rights is to the protection of our fundamental personal freedoms. And the freedom guaranteed each and every business, no matter how small, is the freedom to compete, to assert with vigor, imagination, devotion, and ingenuity whatever economic muscle it can muster.'' Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this legislation. The Wright amendment is anticompetitive, there is no doubt about it, and it has increased the cost of long-distance travel to people who live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area by as much as a third as compared to other markets with other airlines. What this legislation does is continue vestiges of the Wright amendment and its anticompetition policy on until at least the year 2025. If we think the Wright amendment is bad, we should get rid of it once and for all, and remember, Congress imposed the Wright amendment back over 15 years ago. Now, what this bill does is it codifies an agreement among private and local government parties that constitute per se violations of the antitrust laws.”