Bud Shuster: “In the interest of the amendment's sponsors, it is already directly addressed in the bill by section 1201 and section…”

“In the interest of the amendment's sponsors, it is already directly addressed in the bill by section 1201 and section 1202. They specifically add travel and tourism as considerations in the metropolitan and State planning process. I appreciate the importance of travel and tourism to local economies. In fact, in Pennsylvania, it is one of the most important in the Pennsylvania economy. A national advisory committee does not need to be mandated by Congress, in my view. The stakeholder community will now be able to address travel and tourism in the development of State and metropolitan transportation plans. Further, there is nothing to prevent public and private interests from coordinating their efforts to promote tourism and travel in the absence of a national advisory committee. I urge all Members to oppose this. This is redundant. We already have it in the bill. I think it stands on its own merits in the bill. I reserve the balance of my time.”