[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 14708]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



         SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD'S RAIL MERGER MORATORIUM

  Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, I rise to commend the Surface 
Transportation Board for issuing its rail merger moratorium, which has 
just been upheld by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. We on the 
Commerce Committee have been watching the railroad industry closely 
these last several years and we believe time is needed to reevaluate 
where the industry has been and where it should be going. To have moved 
forward with a new round of mergers now would have been shortsighted 
and not in the public interest. I am pleased that the Board had the 
courage to call a time-out on rail mergers to reexamine its rail merger 
policy before proceeding further at this important crossroads for the 
rail sector. I am also gratified that the Court shared my view, and the 
view of many of us in the Senate, that the Board has the authority to 
do what needs to be done.

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