The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“TRAVEL AND TOURISM SHRINKS TRADE IMBALANCE” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Commerce was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H3735 on April 24, 1996.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRAVEL AND TOURISM SHRINKS TRADE IMBALANCE
(Mr. ROTH asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. ROTH. Mr. Speaker, did my colleagues see yesterday where the trade deficit is down by over 18 percent? Now that is something to cheer about.
But do my colleagues know why the trade deficit is down? According to the Commerce Department, it is because the travel and tourist industry reported a temporary surge in foreign visitors to the United States. Unfortunately, this trend cannot continue unless we in Congress work right now to continue the trend by passing the Travel and Tourism Partnership Act.
Now we have 226 cosponsors. That is terrific. I want everyone to cosponsor this bill. We want to do even more, because terrific is not good enough when it comes to travel and tourism.
Travel and tourism is the largest industry in America. Travel and tourism employs one out of every nine working Americans, and it is time that we in Congress, and we are, awaken to the tremendous potential in this industry, and I ask everyone to help me.
Let us cosponsor this bill, and let us pass it so we can get our trade deficit down even further.
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