NBTA called the Obama Administration "misguided" and USTA branded as "short-sighted" the White House's target for a 13 percent reduction in greenhouse gas pollution by 2020. President Obama had announced the conservation efforts would include employee travel

, prompting the National Business Travel Association to say it was "concerned this unilateral action could undermine the slight recovery the travel industry is just now starting to experience." The White House statements, according to NBTA executive director Mike McCormick, "seem to imply that cutting travel is the goal. The goal should be to use travel as cost-effectively as possible to meet the needs of the United States. Instead of unilateral cuts, I encourage government agencies to reach out to the industry and learn how to properly manage travel and 'green' their travel system." The United States Travel Association issued a response indicating "this type of arbitrary and across-the-board approach will further economic decline at precisely the wrong time. We call on the Obama Administration to work with the travel community to promote sustainable business travel initiatives through incentives."