Restoring Brand USA Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6965) to promote travel and tourism in the United States, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 6965.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 6965, the Visit America Act.

Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, America's travel and tourism industry has been seriously upended. The pandemic caused a 48 percent reduction for the industry in 2020. The bipartisan Visit America Act is the latest bill that the House has brought to the floor to help turn the tide for a sector that has not rebounded as quickly as some others.

From the Committee on Energy and Commerce, we are so happy that we are able to bring this to the floor.

While travel has certainly increased over the last year, it is still significantly lower than previously before the pandemic. As an example, business travel spending is on the rise, but it is still expected to be 50 percent below 2019 levels. In the meantime, the number of travelers visiting the United States from overseas fell by 79 percent in September 2021 as compared to that same month in 2019.

These are significant reductions that are impacting not only companies directly involved in the tourism and travel industry but small businesses all across the Nation that rely on travelers to keep them in business.

Today, the United States is the only G20 country not to have a high- ranking official focusing on the travel and tourism industry. This has prevented the industry from producing a coordinated approach to recovery of the industry and to make us more competitive with the rest of the world.

H.R. 6965 addresses this deficiency and provides the industry with a path forward for continuing recovery and growth in the future. This bill establishes the role of the assistant secretary of commerce for travel and tourism at the Department of Commerce. It also requires the assistant secretary to develop and implement a COVID-19 pandemic recovery strategy, as well as strategic plans for future disruptions that hopefully we aren't going to see.

The bill also requires the Department of Commerce to develop a 10- year travel and tourism strategy, as well as provides statutory authority for the United States Travel and Tourism Advisory Board, which will aid the assistant secretary in developing and implementing these important strategies.

H.R. 6965 passed out of the Committee on Energy and Commerce last week unanimously, 56-0. I commend the tireless and passionate efforts put forth by Representative Titus, the author of this legislation. Without her and the good work done by Representatives Soto, Case, Kuster, and the late Don Young--God bless his heart--we would not have gotten this agenda done. I also thank Chairmen Nadler and Meeks for working with us to get this to the House floor today.

I know the Senate has also been working on travel and tourism legislation and is moving forward with a package of bills that includes the Visit America Act. Although there are some technical differences between the two bills, my hope is that we can get together and work together as quickly as possible and get this legislation passed.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

House of Representatives,

Committee on the Judiciary,

Washington, DC, September 23, 2022.

Hon. Frank Pallone, Jr.

Chairman, Committee on Energy and Commerce,

House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Pallone: This letter is to advise you that

the Committee on the Judiciary has now had an opportunity to

review the provisions in H.R. 6965, the ``Visit America

Act,'' that fall within our Rule X jurisdiction. I appreciate

your consulting with us on those provisions. The Judiciary

Committee is willing to forgo action on H.R. 6965, with the

understanding that we do not thereby waive any future

jurisdictional claim over those provisions or their subject

matters.

In the event a House-Senate conference on this or similar

legislation is convened, the Judiciary Committee reserves the

right to request an appropriate number of conferees to

address any concerns with these or similar provisions that

may arise in conference.

Please place this letter into the Congressional Record

during consideration of the measure on the House floor. Thank

you for the cooperative spirit in which you have worked

regarding this matter and others between our committees.

Sincerely,

Jerrold Nadler,

Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Hawaii (Mr. Case).

Mr. Speaker, I urge everyone to support this legislation because it is so important, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6965, the Visit America Act.

The bill along with H.R. 7820, the Travel and Tourism Act, from Representative Dunn, and H.R. 4594, the Restoring Brand USA Act, from Representative Bilirakis, have represented bipartisan efforts to assist our tourism sector with economic recovery post-COVID-19.

Representative Bilirakis is not here speaking about this bill. He is home in Tampa, Florida, and represents the Tampa Bay area, as all of us know. Mr. Speaker, our thoughts and prayers are with his community in Florida and the other States that have to deal with the remnants of the rain. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.

Back to the bill, while I am pleased that Representative Bilirakis' Brand USA legislation was signed into law this year, more work and bipartisan efforts are needed to build upon Representative Bilirakis' efforts to increase tourism.

Without question, the COVID-19 pandemic was difficult for all industries, but the travel and tourism industry was hit especially hard.

According to testimony by the U.S. Travel Association before the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce, at the end of 2021, international travel spending was 78 percent below prepandemic levels.

This bipartisan legislation can support the U.S. travel and tourism industry and address the declining percentage of international visitors to the United States. The Visit America Act will help by directing the Department of Commerce to develop a 10-year travel and tourism strategy with annual goals for the number of international visitors to the United States.

Again, I thank the sponsors and cosponsors of all of these bills that we have considered at the Committee on Energy and Commerce. I would like to give special recognition to our colleague, Representative Bilirakis, the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and co-chair of the Congressional Travel and Tourism Caucus, who, as I noted, is back home, duly focusing on the hurricane response and serving his constituents.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

Mr. Speaker, we have the greatest country in the world. I love when people want to come see the beauty of our great land and meet our great people. We have a wonderful opportunity for people to come see our country. The tourism industry is a great industry, as are the people who serve in it.

Mr. Speaker, I urge the passage of this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 6965, the Visit America Act.

U.S. travel and tourism is one of our country's core industries. Pre- COVID, it generated some $2.6 trillion in annual economic output, was one of our largest export and service industries, and supported fully 1 in 10 U.S. jobs. In many States, my own Hawaii being a prime example, it is our leading industry.

But COVID taught us in spades how fragile this economic and jobs generator can be. Very frankly, it has never earned full respect in terms of Federal Government attention, focus, and support, given its prominence.

U.S. travel and tourism needs and deserves far more. This bill, in which I am joined by the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Titus), the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), our House Travel and Tourism Caucus, and other colleagues, in addition to all aspects of the industry, is a necessary start on a new chapter through a coordinated, high-level Federal effort, including a 10-year travel and tourism strategy and finally, finally, like other countries, an Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Travel and Tourism.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge its passage.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.