Letter from Sen. DeWine and Sen. Kohl to Rep. Tauzin and Rep. Markey.
Re: House Telecom Subcommittee markup of HR 4019, a bill to limit the merger review authority of the FCC.
Date: June 27, 2000.
Source: House Commerce Committee. Tech Law Journal scanned and converted into HTML a paper copy.

See also:
 • Tech Law Journal summary of bills to limit FCC's merger review authority.
 • HR 4019 IH (as introduced).
 • Amendments adopted on June 27, 2000.
 • HR 4019 as amended on June 27, 2000.

June 27, 2000

The Honorable Billy Tauzin
The Honorable Edward Markey
Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade
   and Consumer Protection
House Commerce Committee
2125 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-6117

Dear Congressmen Tauzin and Markey:

We understand that H.R. 4019, the Telecommunications Merger Review Act of 2000, is scheduled for mark-up at your Subcommittee today. We applaud your efforts to move this legislation at this time, because we strongly believe that there is an urgent need to impose time limits on action by the FCC when it considers mergers.

This need is highlighted by a number of pending global mergers requiring European Union ("EU") approval-WorldCom/Sprint, AOL/Time Warner, and Vivendi/Seagrams, to cite just a few. Under the EU's merger review procedures, the EU must complete its review within five months, a far shorter time-frame than is usually followed by the FCC. An FCC time limits bill will go a long way toward harmonizing the American and European merger review processes, therefore substantially reducing the likelihood of inconsistent results, at different times, by the two authorities. Failure to expedite the FCC merger review process, furthermore, will turn established merger tradition on its head by allowing the European authorities to pass the first judgment on mergers among American companies.

To be sure, some of the provisions of H.R. 4019 are not likely to be endorsed by a majority of the Senate. Specifically, we do not believe that there is sufficient support to strip the FCC of any of its substantive merger review authority, or to impose a time period of 90 days for agency action on all but the smallest mergers. Nonetheless, we believe that it is important that your Subcommittee move this legislation at the present time so that we may, in both the House and Senate, continue toward the goal of expediting FCC review of mergers. As you know, we have introduced similar legislation (S. 467, the Expeditious Action in Telecommunications Mergers Act), which passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee last year, and has overwhelming support in the Senate. We look forward to working with you so that we can, during this Congress, enact reasonable and effective reforms of the FCC's presently troubled merger review process.

Sincerely,

cc: The Honorable Tom Bliley
The Honorable John D. Dingell
The Honorable Charles W. ("Chip") Pickering