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“TRAVEL PROMOTION, ENHANCEMENT, AND MODERNIZATION ACT OF 2014” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Commerce was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1216 on July 23, 2014.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRAVEL PROMOTION, ENHANCEMENT, AND MODERNIZATION ACT OF 2014
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speech of
HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON
of mississippi
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4450, the ``Travel Promotion, Enhancement, and Modernization Act of 2014.''
I am pleased that the Energy and Commerce Committee made important enhancements to H.R. 4450 during its recent markup, significantly improving the bill before us today.
Specifically, H.R. 4450 now includes a provision to enhance accountability of the program by requiring Brand USA to establish performance metrics to assess the effectiveness of its marketing efforts; whether increases in visitors are due to Brand USA's efforts or outside factors; and any cost or benefit to the U.S. economy.
It also includes a provision requiring the Secretary of Commerce to establish formal procedures for revising the policy governing in-kind contributions or resolving disputes about the value of in-kind contributions with Brand USA.
These provisions are responsive to findings in a July 2013 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report entitled ``Brand USA Needs Plans for Measuring Performance and Updated Policy on Private Sector Contributions.''
Given my strong desire to stimulate new tourism to the United States, I requested GAO to examine the effectiveness of Brand USA so that Congress could be informed as to whether the corporation was positioned to achieve its mission.
In that report, GAO concluded that Brand USA has taken some steps to measure its performance but has not yet developed a plan to monitor and evaluate whether its efforts are increasing travel to, and travelers' spending in, the U.S.
GAO also found that there were possible problems with current valuation methodologies for in-kind contributions and cited disputes between the Commerce Department and Brand USA about whether certain types of in-kind contributions are allowed under the law.
For the Federal government's part, the resources that are provided to Brand USA are derived from a fee assessed to foreign travelers that Customs and Border Protection collects. Given the well-documented resource challenges within CBP, I have no doubt that CBP would welcome the opportunity to retain more of these funds for its own traveler facilitation programs and operations but, as a policy matter, Congress has said it must go to this corporation to advertise and promote travel to the U.S.
For its part, it falls to Brand USA to show us that we made the right call by delivering data showing how the ad campaigns and media efforts undertaken by this corporation have impacted travel and the overall economy.
The bill being considered today will help ensure Brand USA addresses deficiencies found by the GAO and utilizes its funding in the most effective and efficient manner possible, as we extend authorization for the program through 2020.
Because of these improvements to the bill, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4450, the Travel Promotion, Enhancement, and Modernization Act of 2014.
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