[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 24 (Tuesday, March 7, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1228-S1229]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    OPEN-MARKET REORGANIZATION FOR THE BETTERMENT OF INTERNATIONAL 
                         TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT

  Mr. CLELAND. Mr. President, one of the first issues to come before me 
as a new member of the Commerce Committee was INTELSAT privatization. 
Although this was a challenging issue that required balancing the 
international role of the U.S. in communications technology with the 
needs of the signatories to INTELSAT, I chose to become an original co-
sponsor of the Open-market Reorganization for the Betterment of 
International Telecommunications Act ``ORBIT'' because

[[Page S1229]]

I believed it was important to get behind a bill that can be enacted in 
to law this Congress to address these challenges.
  One provision that was of particular concern to me is that of ``fresh 
look.'' The conference agreement on S. 376 does eliminate the ``fresh 
look'' provision that continued to be debated this year. ``Fresh look'' 
is a policy that, if implemented, would allow the federal government to 
permit COMSAT's corporate customers to abrogate their current contracts 
with COMSAT. The conference agreement rejects ``fresh look'' and 
preserves the ability of the private parties involved to negotiate 
contracts so that one party cannot simply walk away from its business 
obligations without any attendant liability.
  This conference agreement does not allow the FCC to take any action 
that would impair lawful, private contracts or agreements. Both 
chambers in the 106th Congress emphatically rejected ``fresh look'' 
when they passed their own versions of international satellite 
privatization legislation, and the conference agreement reflects this 
consensus.
  I commend the conferees for including language in the conference 
agreement that protects private agreements, contracts, and the like. To 
read the relevant section otherwise would be to dismiss the clear 
intent of Congress to preserve existing and binding obligations of 
parties.

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