GBTA Alarmed by DHS Funding Fight’s Impact on Business Travel

Today, a Department of Homeland Security funding bill failed to pass a procedural vote. The statement below can be attributed to Michael W. McCormick, Executive Director and COO of the Global Business Travel Association.

“The Global Business Travel Association is concerned that today’s vote failing to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security could have serious, unintended consequences for business travel, an industry that is expected to account for $310.2 billion in spending during 2015. We call on Congress to work together to fund DHS, which supports the movement of people, goods and services throughout our transportation system.

Absent a full year funding bill, business travel can easily be disrupted, causing an immediate impact on our economy. For every one percent decrease in business travel spending, the U.S. economy loses an additional 71,000 jobs, nearly $5 billion in GDP, $3 billion in wages and $1.2 billion in tax collections.”

CONTACT: Colleen Lerro Gallagher, +1 703-236-1133, cgallagher@gbta.org
Gayle Kansagor, +1 202-295-8775, gayle.kansagor@harbourgrp.com

About the Global Business Travel Association
The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) is the world’s premier business travel and meetings trade organization headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area with operations on six continents. GBTA’s 9,000-plus members manage more than $345 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually. GBTA and the GBTA Foundation deliver world-class education, events, research, advocacy and media to a growing global network of more than 28,000 travel professionals and 125,000 active contacts. To learn how business travel drives lasting business growth, gbta.org