Political Quotes

“As the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, I am pleased that this bipartisan bill, H.R. 4450, the Travel Promotion, Enhancement, and Modernization Act of 2014, was reported out of the full Energy and Commerce Committee last week. The bill, which authorizes the Brand USA program through fiscal year 2020, is an important achievement for our committee. I appreciate the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton) and the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Terry), the chairman of our committee and subcommittee, and the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman), the full committee ranking member, for helping to bring this legislation to the floor. I strongly support Brand USA's mission of promoting international travel to the United States, and I have heard from travel and tourism professionals across my district about the need to reauthorize this program, but it is not just the Chicago area that benefits. Brand USA supports an estimated 53,000 jobs and $3.4 billion in visitor spending each year from coast to coast, according to the U.S. Travel Association. I would like to thank Mr. Bilirakis and Mr. Welch, the sponsors of H.R. 4450, for their continued commitment to the promotion of international tourism. The sponsors worked with me to make some important improvements to this legislation during the committee markup process.…”