NBTA Brings Buyers To Capitol Hill

The National Business Travel Association on May 20 took to Capitol Hill for its first annual Legislative Action Day, during which more than 75 NBTA corporate participants met with government officials and politicians to discuss the significance of business travel and its future. While the summit's impact on the industry remains to be seen, NBTA president Kevin Iwamoto said the organization's first official and organized attempt at political action was by and large a success, providing some lessons for upcoming legislative initiatives.

Iwamoto, Hewlett-Packard global air and car supplier manager, said participants were "impressed with the level of attention we got from the people on Capitol Hill," but added that "we learned that our people could have been more fully briefed prior to going to Washington." NBTA's entrée into organized political action came and passed without specific legislative goals or predetermined topics to be addressed, which were left up to the participants. Data privacy, traveler security and taxes emerged as the hot topics of the day, according to those in attendance.

The summit garnered face time with and addresses by Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.); Asa Hutchinson, U.S. Department of Homeland Security undersecretary for border and transportation security; Michael Jackson, U.S. Department of Transportation deputy secretary; and Alice Fisher, U.S. Department of Justice deputy assistant attorney general. Some NBTA participants visited Senators Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.).

"The big thing is that the Bush Administration is starting to get an idea that the travel industry is bigger than they thought," said Cyndi Perper, an attending NBTA board member and global travel manager for Invensys. NBTA formed its political action committee last year, joining the more than 4,000 PACs registered with the Federal Election Commission.