[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 81 (Wednesday, June 5, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H5824]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUPPORT FOR H.R. 2579

  (Mr. OXLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. OXLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to express my support for 
H.R. 2579, legislation to promote international travel and tourism in 
the United States. This measure privatizes the functions of the U.S. 
Travel and Tourism Administration, an agency which costs taxpayers 
$16.7 million in 1995. The Congress correctly decided to zero out the 
USTTA. However, there is a role for a federally chartered, privately 
funded organization to promote travel to the United States.
  I am an original cosponsor of the bill, and our Subcommittee on 
Commerce, Trade, and Hazardous Materials, which I chair, recently 
marked it up, where it was approved by voice vote. It will be taken up 
by the full Committee on Commerce in the very near future.
  Travel and tourism is the Nation's leading export industry. As one 
example, in 1993, foreign visitors spent $443 million in my home State 
of Ohio, which ranked 18th among the States.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to pay particular tribute to our friend, the 
gentleman from Wisconsin, Toby Roth, who has led this effort on behalf 
of the travel and tourism industry and all Americans for this critical 
legislation. I am proud to be a cosponsor of this bill and look forward 
to the markup in the full Committee on Commerce.

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