Congressmen Ask for BellSouth-AT&T Delay

The Associate Press is reporting that the chairman and a ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee have asked the Justice Department to delay approval of the merger of AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp. until a federal court decides whether two previous mergers were in the public interest.

Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich., sent a letter earlier this week to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asking the department delay its decision until a federal judge rules on the merger of SBC Communications Inc. and the old AT&T Corp., as well as the merger of Verizon Communications Inc. and MCI Inc.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sens. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, wrote a similar letter questioning whether Justice has been approving mergers too hastily, counter to the intent of federal law.

For more information, check out the article Lawmakers call for delay in AT&T/BellSouth merger.