Senate to Hold Antitrust Hearings on March 7

For the first time in five years, the U.S. Senate will hold antitrust oversight hearings. The Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights has scheduled a hearing on “Oversight of the Enforcement of the Antitrust Laws” for Wednesday, March 7 at 2 p.m. in Room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Scheduled witnesses are Thomas O. Barnett, Assistant Attorney General in Charge of the Antitrust Division, and Federal Trade Commission Chair Deborah Platt Majoras.

McCarran-Ferguson Act

Earlier that day, the full Senate Committee on the Judiciary will conduct a hearing entitled “The McCarran-Ferguson and Antitrust Immunity: Good for Consumers?” The hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. in Room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building,

Witnesses will include (Panel I) Senator Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and Senator Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.) and (Panel II) Michael Homan of New Orleans; J. Robert Hunter, Insurance Director for the Consumer Federation of America; Marc Racicot, President of the American Insurance Association; and Susan E. Voss, Iowa Insurance Commissioner.

Further information is available from the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary.