GBTA Relieved DHS Shutdown Averted

Alexandria, VA (March 3, 2015) – Today, Congress passed legislation funding the Department of Homeland Security through the rest of this fiscal year, ensuring that the agency will continue to operate normally. 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 relieved Congress took action to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security through the end of this fiscal year, ensuring that road warriors can continue to travel without disruption. We are, however, disappointed that the path to a full-year funding bill was fraught with uncertainty.

Today’s vote recognizes the critical need to ensure that the security infrastructure at our nation’s airports, ports and border crossings remain fully staffed and “open for business.” Business travel will account for $310.2 billion in spending during 2015. For every one percent decrease in business travel spending, the U.S. economy could lose an additional 71,000 jobs, nearly $5 billion in GDP, $3 billion in wages and $1.2 billion in tax collections.”

Congress must stop moving from crisis-to-crisis, and instead provide the travel community and travel programs the certainty that they need. Narrowly averting a crisis such as a DHS shut down sends the wrong signal to businesses.

Going forward, Congress should continue working together to make sure that DHS, which supports the movement of people, goods and services throughout our transportation system, remains fully funded.

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