The Candidates Respond to You
Arkansas:
California:
Florida:
- Senate: FL, Kendrick Meek
- House: FL 11, Michael Prendergast (R)
- House: FL 20, Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D)
- House: FL 22, Ron Klein (D)
- House: FL 24, Suzanne Kosmas (D)
Nevada:
Ohio:
Pennsylvania:
Texas:
Arkansas:
Senate: AR, Blanche Lincoln (D)
1. The meetings and incentive portion of the travel industry has taken quite a hit in the past 18 months. What, if anything, would you do to show that meetings and incentives are a vital part of the travel industry, the economy and the business community in general?
The excesses of a few bad actors should not unfairly tarnish business travel, most of which is essential to running a successful business. I believe there are ways for businesses to conduct meetings and events that are transparent to their stockholders and productive for their executives and employees. I think we should do what we can to encourage companies to spend on travel again, and do so in an ethical, acceptable manner.
2. For the first time in many years, the U.S. has a mechanism in place to promote itself to potential International visitors through the Travel Promotion Act. Are you committed to ensuring this program achieves its stated goals and successfully promotes the U.S. as a destination of choice?
I strongly support the Travel Promotion Act because it will help bring visitors and jobs to Arkansas. The travel industry, like much of the rest of the country, has taken a hit during the economic downturn, and this bill will help strengthen the industry by promoting our nation as a premier travel destination. For too long, the U.S. has not invested in resources or funds to attract international tourists, while nearly every developed nation in the world spends millions to attract visitors and strengthen their economy. This legislation is estimated to attract 1.6 million new international travelers annually, create $4 billion in new spending and drive $321 million in new federal tax revenue. Nearly 40,000 new American jobs are expected to be created.
3. The hospitality and travel business brings new tax dollars to the country, states and cities. What's one thing you will do if elected to strengthen our business?
My first priority is to do everything I can to get our economy back on track so people will be encouraged to travel the country, especially to our beautiful natural state of Arkansas. Tourism is an important industry in Arkansas and provides tremendous economic benefits, employing 62,400 in our state and generating $1.1 billion in payroll in each year.
Visitors from across the nation and abroad travel to Arkansas to enjoy our state's abundance of natural resources, recreational activities, historic sites and cultural attractions. Stuttgart, AR near where I was raised, is generally recognized as the duck hunting capitol of the world. Growing up, I was fortunate enough to spend time on Arkansas's lakes and rivers with my family. My husband, Steve, and I enjoy taking our boys floating, fishing and hunting in the state.
California:
Senate: CA, Carly Fiorina (R)
1. The meetings and incentive portion of the travel industry has taken quite a hit in the past 18 months. What, if anything, would you do to show that meetings and incentives are a vital part of the travel industry, the economy and the business community in general?
While certainly those financial institutions who received bailout money and then went on lavish retreats should be held accountable, there are many other businesses who can and should reward their employees for a job well done, or who find that holding meetings off-site can increase creativity, productivity and team cohesion. The larger point however is that government should not pick winning and losing cities, and arbitrarily take off-limits destination locations like San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco for meetings and conferences. Rather, we should be looking at the best value and least cost to the taxpayer for necessary government travel. Negative comments and subjective restrictions about destination locations hurt the travel industry, small businesses, and workers particularly during these challenging economic times.
2. For the first time in many years, the U.S. has a mechanism in place to promote itself to potential International visitors through the Travel Promotion Act. Are you committed to ensuring this program achieves its stated goals and successfully promotes the U.S. as a destination of choice?
Yes. The Travel Promotion Act is a good piece of bipartisan legislation that leverages the private sector to increase tourism, travel and commerce, and create jobs in America at no cost to the taxpayer. The expected tourism dollars that will come into America as a result of the Act will help the State, and help create jobs in California. Travel spending in California directly supports nearly 1 million jobs and that is why the legislation was supported by a broad spectrum of organizations such as Intel Corporation, the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau, the US Conference of Mayors, and the Walt Disney Company. Achieving the goals and successfully promoting the Act will allow us to be more competitive and achieve a stronger economy.
3. The hospitality and travel business brings new tax dollars to the country, states and cities. What's one thing you will do if elected to strengthen our business?
The ancillary benefit of increased travel is encouraging investment and trade with America. We are in a global economy, and having a more inviting and coordinated effort to get people to come to America is good for commerce and diplomacy. When people visit America, we should make it a welcoming experience, and promote the country as a place to do business, travel and sightsee. We should pass the pending Free Trade Agreements, encourage investment, and be a leader in the 21st century global economy – all of this will be of benefit to the hospitality and travel sector which is vitally important to California's economy.
House: CA 17, Jeff Taylor(R)
1. The meetings and incentive portion of the travel industry has taken quite a hit in the past 18 months. What, if anything, would you do to show that meetings and incentives are a vital part of the travel industry, the economy and the business community in general?
Our current administration is way too abusive of the proper role of government. The BAILOUT was absurd; the STIMULUS was miss spent, propping up the union's financial supporters, and these PUBLIC UNION PAC's are keeping LIBERAL, ABUSE-of-power Socialists in CONTROL!
There are plenty more issues relating to Big Brother DICTATING how private businesses and corporations can invest in employee education and stimulating and honoring sales milestones. These are business expenses which encourage and promote growth in revenue to the business, and therefore should be considered just that - a business expenses.
2. For the first time in many years, the U.S. has a mechanism in place to promote itself to potential International visitors through the Travel Promotion Act. Are you committed to ensuring this program achieves its stated goals and successfully promotes the U.S. as a destination of choice?
I am not versed on the Travel Promotion Act. I hope it is a relatively simple and straight forward document unlike our current legislative actions. I am concentrating my time on being the Candidate of Opportunity and much needed Real Change in Leadership for Freedom and Prosperity for All. I believe that we are the Land of Opportunity as well as Breath Taking Beauty of our Coastlines, Mountains and Valleys.
However, a Travel Industry Promotion program, like the Marketing Agreements in the agriculture industry would be a great way to pool resources of that industry, as well as associate industries to promote U.S. travel.
3. The hospitality and travel business brings new tax dollars to the country, states and cities. What's one thing you will do if elected to strengthen our business?
I would work closely with our County Supervisors to encourage more open and friendly development of Eco-Tourism components, such as Boutique Wineries, Bread and Breakfast Lodging, Farming, Agricultural and Processing permit streamlining and tourism opportunities.
Florida:
Senate: FL, Kendrick Meek (D)
1. The meetings and incentive portion of the travel industry has taken quite a hit in the past 18 months. What, if anything, would you do to show that meetings and incentives are a vital part of the travel industry, the economy and the business community in general?
The immediate outrage in regards to some of the retreats and conventions of firms that had recently asked for government support was, by and large, an extension of the outrage in response to the irresponsibility and greed of Wall Street. Since then, I believe much of the slowdown in the meetings and incentive portion of the travel industry may be attributed to the recession. Recognizing that these are all intertwined, I believe it is critically important to support the convention and tourism industry in Florida because it is a crucial part of our state's economy. As we pull out of this recession and domestic travel rebounds, we must continue to encourage international visitors and smaller-scale domestic travel. The U.S. Travel Promotion Act is a valuable first step to help increase our international travelers, and I will continue to help our struggling businesses with programs that lessen burdens on these vital industries.
2. For the first time in many years, the U.S. has a mechanism in place to promote itself to potential International visitors through the Travel Promotion Act. Are you committed to ensuring this program achieves its stated goals and successfully promotes the U.S. as a destination of choice?
I wholeheartedly supported passage of the U.S. Travel Promotion Act and voted for the legislation in Congress. Moving forward, I will continue to support promoting Florida as a tourist destination through the public-private partnership set up by this Act. Tourism is a pillar of Florida's economy and, above all, this is a jobs initiative that will grow our tourism industry over the long-term.
3. The hospitality and travel business brings new tax dollars to the country, states and cities. What's one thing you will do if elected to strengthen our business?
The travel industry has been a crucial part of Florida's economy. Cities like Miami, Orlando, Panama City and others depend on tourist and business travelers spending money. I am keenly aware of this and this is why I supported the Travel Promotion Act. Also, knowing that the travel and hospitality industries are composed of many small businesses, I plan to continue supporting legislation that will help small businesses not only survive, but expand. For instance, the Small Business Lending Fund Act injected capital into banks specifically for small business lending, made 100% of small business capital gains exempt from taxation and increased the amount of start-up expenses small business owners can deduct from their taxes. This is the kind of smart, targeted legislation that will keep the industry strong and keep Floridians gainfully employed. I plan on continuing to support these measures in the U.S. Senate.
House: FL 11, Michael Prendergast (R)
1. The meetings and incentive portion of the travel industry has taken quite a hit in the past 18 months. What, if anything, would you do to show that meetings and incentives are a vital part of the travel industry, the economy and the business community in general?
When businesses have to make cuts to balance a budget, owners will look to travel fund allocations as one of the first places to considerably slash or completely cut. The prosperity of the business and the size of the travel budget then are directly related.
Unfortunately our businesses, especially those right here in Tampa and St. Pete, are weathering a severe economic storm. Unemployment in our area has risen from 9.4% in February 2009, when the stimulus was passed about 18 months ago, to the current rate of 12.6%. The total rise in unemployment since January 2007 when our current representative took her oath is 235% according to Forbes magazine.
The problem to the travel industry's downturn isn't a secret and it isn't hard to solve. Bring back the jobs, the economic certainty, and the prosperity to get people to travel again. The solution has been proven by both political parties from President John Kennedy to Ronald Reagan, lower taxes to increase revenue and stimulate the economy. Excessive and wasteful spending to buy jobs has clearly failed, small businesses must create them.
2. For the first time in many years, the U.S. has a mechanism in place to promote itself to potential International visitors through the Travel Promotion Act. Are you committed to ensuring this program achieves its stated goals and successfully promotes the U.S. as a destination of choice?
The Travel Promotion Act is a ruse of smoke and mirror politics and if I was in the travel business, I would feel cheated. The bill will please lobbyists long enough for Washington to avoid addressing the real problem. Our corporate tax rate is too high, second highest in the world behind Japan. Worse yet, Japan is considering lowering their rate to make the United States the least incentivized place for foreign investors to take their business. International travel has to be spearheaded by the growth of international business.
Since the bill is passed, I remain committed to ensuring its efficiency and effectiveness. I served for 31 years as a military policeman on five continents in 120 countries. I know the globe and I know what makes people come here. Also, I have trained most of my life to enforce laws. The experience the army has given me will be unmatched in leading the fight for increased foreign travel.
3. The hospitality and travel business brings new tax dollars to the country, states and cities. What's one thing you will do if elected to strengthen our business?
Listening to the people is the most important way to increase business. In my case, they're constituents and in your case, they're customers but in both cases they know best. A recent example is the international flights to Puerto Rico by Jet Blue. Many from the Latin community wanted flights to places other than San Juan since San Juan flights were already available.
Also considered at the time were flights to Frankfurt. Tampa's weak business community was outmatched by three other Gulf Coast destinations. The Tampa Tribune reported, "Tampa International's efforts to land its Frankfurt flights were 'the least attractive' of four Florida west coast airports competing for the service." Herwig Oberhuber, Condor's head of planning and international relations, is quoted from an email sent to Trudy Carson, Tampa International's director of air service development.
The solution is the economy. I will diligently work to provide certainty to businesses who can begin hiring again. Lowering taxes, removing bureaucratic hurdles, and reducing spending must be accomplished so the government can allow small businesses to rebuild this economy and get people back to traveling.
House: FL 22, Ron Klein (D)
1. The meetings and incentive portion of the travel industry has taken quite a hit in the past 18 months. What, if anything, would you do to show that meetings and incentives are a vital part of the travel industry, the economy and the business community in general?
My district in South Florida is heavily dependent on tourism. The hotel, restaurant, boating and travel industries are the lifeblood of the economy in my community. Our community suffered greatly from the decline in tourism, including business travel, and I have worked with Democrats, Republicans and Independents and the administration to help address this critical local issue. In letters to the White House, the private sector and my colleagues in Congress, I have emphasized the economic impact of business travel, both in the role that companies in the hospitality and travel industry play and the return on investment for every dollar spent on business or incentive travel. Now is the time to make the case to businesses that the best way you can do business is face-to-face with your customers. Pricing for travel to Florida needs to not only be competitive, but more affordable as compared to the rest of the country.
Travel Florida, the public-private partnership that has been so effective in Florida, can be a model to ensure that the right signals are sent and effective incentives are in place.
2. For the first time in many years, the U.S. has a mechanism in place to promote itself to potential International visitors through the Travel Promotion Act. Are you committed to ensuring this program achieves its stated goals and successfully promotes the U.S. as a destination of choice?
As a strong supporter of Travel Florida and a proponent of encouraging local tourism, I was an early co-sponsor of the Travel Promotion Act. When Congress passed the Travel Promotion Act, it was long overdue. This legislation will greatly strengthen South Florida's ability to attract tourists from abroad, which will in turn, reinforce South Florida's economy. We need to do everything we can to ensure that Florida gets it fair share, to see benefits in South Florida. Additionally, enforcement of this legislation is crucial to achieving its goals. This includes ensuring that the Corporation for Travel Promotion is funded and that the fees Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) are collected properly. I will also seek to ensure that the Corporation for Travel Promotion Board is representative of the many people who contribute to the success of American tourism.
3. The hospitality and travel business brings new tax dollars to the country, states and cities. What's one thing you will do if elected to strengthen our business?
Before being elected to Congress, I worked with and represented local hotel operators and restaurants. I continue to be committed to working with the local tourism industry and have devoted a lot of time to visiting properties and working with the local tourism development board. I hope to continue my work to bring all of the parties to the table in order to help create more tourism-related jobs. I am a co-sponsor of legislation to create a matching federal grant to promote domestic tourism through local and regional public-private partnerships. Matching grants will leverage federal money to encourage private sector and local investment. Additionally, as the Commerce Department implements its portion of the Travel Promotion Act, I will work to ensure that South Florida is a competitive contender for travel promotion funds. By increasing domestic tourism, and promoting international tourism to American destinations like South Florida, we can encourage leisure and business travel and create more jobs.
House: FL 24, Suzanne Kosmas (D)
1. The meetings and incentive portion of the travel industry has taken quite a hit in the past 18 months. What, if anything, would you do to show that meetings and incentives are a vital part of the travel industry, the economy and the business community in general?
I recognize that more than seven million Americans depend on the travel industry for their paychecks. That is why I introduced legislation that would make it clear that federal travel policies must not discriminate destinations based on perception and reputation. I have fought to stop federal agencies from "blacklisting" certain cities for conferences or events based on the perception of a city as too leisurely or resort-oriented. Government agencies cannot base travel decisions on fear of criticism from the media about a specific destination.
2. For the first time in many years, the U.S. has a mechanism in place to promote itself to potential International visitors through the Travel Promotion Act. Are you committed to ensuring this program achieves its stated goals and successfully promotes the U.S. as a destination of choice?
I was proud to cosponsor the Travel Promotion Act, bringing the public and private sectors together to coordinate a national effort to encourage global travel to the United States. Central Florida is a premier travel destination and boosting tourism to the U.S. will mean more visitors to our world-class attractions and more jobs in our communities. I am committed to ensuring that this program is successful in promoting the U.S. as a travel destination.
3. The hospitality and travel business brings new tax dollars to the country, states and cities. What's one thing you will do if elected to strengthen our business?
I have worked to improve the infrastructure that is critical to the tourism industry by supporting high-speed rail and other transit projects. I will continue supporting measures that will ensure funding to improve our nation's aging highway infrastructure, expand public transportation and commuter rail service, and modernize our nation's airports.
Nevada:
Ohio:
Senate: OH, Eric Deaton (C)
1. The meetings and incentive portion of the travel industry has taken quite a hit in the past 18 months. What, if anything, would you do to show that meetings and incentives are a vital part of the travel industry, the economy and the business community in general?
The meetings and incentive travel industry is a legitimate business and a way to promote better work performance and reward results. This industry has taken a big hit due to the economy over the past few years. In addition to that there has been a bad stigma associated with a few high profile companies that have abused these rewards programs to the detriment of their shareholders. The native U.S. Travel Industry is comprised of hard working Americans who make their livings promoting our country and foreign destinations through unique travel offerings and packages suited to a multitude of U.S. Industries. I feel that hard work should sometimes be rewarded with these opportunities, which ultimately educate and broaden the horizons of the participants and motivate them to be more productive for their companies. The results are purely American in nature: work hard / play hard.
If similar national news stories of lavish travel abuses by executives at large American companies ever come to light again, I will take the abusers to task and not the industry that provides so many important jobs around our country.
2. For the first time in many years, the U.S. has a mechanism in place to promote itself to potential International visitors through the Travel Promotion Act. Are you committed to ensuring this program achieves its stated goals and successfully promotes the U.S. as a destination of choice?
The Travel Promotion Act is a good program concept, with the goal of increasing foreign traveler visits to our country. Since it doesn't cost the U.S. Taxpayers anything and it does promote and showcase America's beauty, values and culture to the world, I will give it a fair chance to work. It is important for our nation to welcome foreign travelers to vacation, study and visit relatives in our country. By encouraging them to do so, we have the opportunity to create American jobs in the travel industry and generate tax dollars to run our government. More importantly, it gives the United States an opportunity to show off its incredible diversity in geography, culture and natural splendor. This certainly will improve our standing in the world as these travelers learn that we are an industrious people that welcome visitors from other countries and cultures into our society. As these travelers enjoy the liberty and freedom that Americans enjoy every day, that longing feeling to be like us and to vote for the same kind of rights in their own countries will help bring the rest of the world up to our gold standard of individual rights. That ultimately will make the world a better place to live for all of us.
3. The hospitality and travel business brings new tax dollars to the country, states and cities. What's one thing you will do if elected to strengthen our business?
The hospitality and travel business is an important generator of jobs in America, which services native and foreign travelers all over the United States. This industry needs to be treated as a vital national asset with less taxes targeted at it, since they ultimately lower the volume of business. Our own State Department should help promote our state-side travel business by assisting our travel industry in advertising and reaching out to other countries around the world. Travel opens up the world to cooperation, best practices and better systems of government. Our country can only benefit from this since we have the best system of government in the world that the citizens of other countries will aspire to once they understand it.
Pennsylvania:
Senate: PA, Joe Sestak (D)
1. The meetings and incentive portion of the travel industry has taken quite a hit in the past 18 months. What, if anything, would you do to show that meetings and incentives are a vital part of the travel industry, the economy and the business community in general?
The meetings and incentive portion of the travel industry has taken quite a hit in the past 18 months. What, if anything, would you do to show that meetings and incentives are a vital part of the travel industry and should not be looked down upon because of one majorly publicized abuser?
In the Navy, I learned that nothing is gained by approaching challenges like this one with a rigid mindset. Instead, you have to take a practical approach. There's no room for ideology – liberal, conservative, or otherwise. It's about doing what it takes to execute the mission, accomplish your objectives, and bring your crew home safely.
This is the same practical approach I apply to policy issues like the ones that have plagued the meetings and incentive portion of the travel industry. In many cases, commonsense regulations can help reduce the likelihood of abuse, but it would be impractical and potentially devastating to the entire meetings and incentive sector to take an extreme, hard-line approach. Unless the problem is systemic, our response should be relatively narrow, and applicable only to those who are guilty of fraud or abuse. We cannot afford to suffer additional setbacks in an economic climate that continues to be fragile, particularly as we work to grow small businesses, create jobs, and restore our prosperity for ourselves and future generations. This sector is a vital part of the travel industry, which in turn is a key component of our economy, both in Pennsylvania and across the country. We should continue to explore ways to bolster these essential businesses and ensure they receive the same high regard, and strong support, we hold for all other parts of the industry as a whole.
2. For the first time in many years, the U.S. has a mechanism in place to promote itself to potential International visitors through the Travel Promotion Act. Are you committed to ensuring this program achieves its stated goals and successfully promotes the U.S. as a destination of choice?
For the first time in many years, the U.S. has a mechanism in place to promote itself to potential International visitors through the Travel Promotion Act. Are you committed to ensuring this program achieves its stated goals and successfully promotes the U.S. as a destination of choice?
As a co-sponsor of an original version of this legislation, I remain fully committed to the goals of the new law. More than 8 million Americans work in the travel and tourism industry. But as a result of the global economic crisis, in recent years it's entered a sharp decline.
That's why this legislation is so vital. Especially in a time of economic uncertainty, it's essential to take an active role in securing our recovery. This means providing support where it's needed most, to help get our economy on track.
It's common for policymakers at the national level to take indirect steps to aid the tourism industry, though addressing related issues like immigration and visa protocols, federal funding for public lands, regulation of gaming, and even the minimum wage. But it's relatively rare for Congress to act on a bill that deals with this industry directly.
This legislation is a welcome break from this trend. The bill, which I was proud to support, will encourage travel to the United States from visitors around the world, broaden the economic impact of tourism, and help spur the increased tourism that will create jobs in a series of related industries at a time when such support is sorely needed. It will allow the United States to take an active role in promoting tourism from abroad.
By providing direct support for the tourism industry, and promotion for the United States as an attractive destination to visitors from around the world, we can restore the booming business we were doing immediately prior to the recession, and ensure that the United States tourism industry remains the world's largest (in terms of dollars spent). I will continue to support similar initiatives in the Senate.
3. The hospitality and travel business brings new tax dollars to the country, states and cities. What's one thing you will do if elected to strengthen our business?
Small businesses – including many in the hospitality and travel sector – are the backbone of our prosperity. They'll be the engine of our economic recovery, because they create 80 percent of all new jobs, and they're where the majority of Pennsylvanians go to work every day.
That is why, as Vice Chairman of the House Small Business Committee, I have introduced the JOBS Act to provide a 15 percent tax credit to small businesses that hire new workers over the next two years. This investment, according to the Economic Policy Institute, will create millions of new jobs and will help boost our GDP, resulting in increased revenues we can then put toward paying down the federal debt, securing the economy for future generations.
We should also increase the maximum SBA loan size to $5 million and increase the cap on SBA microloans to at least $50,000. Then, to attract private investments into small businesses, we should exempt the capital gains, expand the period that small businesses are allowed to offset their losses to five years, and accelerate their capital purchase expensing. Extending these incentives through the end of 2010 would help alleviate the credit crunch that many hospitality and travel businesses continue to face, create jobs, and help restore prosperity.
Texas:
