A presidential advisory team tasked with developing
strategies to cut the U.S. national deficit recommended a $400 million
reduction in the federal travel budget by 2015. The National Commission on
Fiscal Responsibility and Reform recommended federal agencies use
telecommunications technologies to replace travel, proposed cuts in airport funding
and suggested increases to passenger security fees.
President Barack Obama in February created the commission,
which has its critics, to advise on how to cut government spending by $200
billion and balance the federal budget by 2015. Obama appointed six members,
including the chairmen, former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.) and Erskine Bowles,
former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton. Other members include current
congressional delegates and leaders from private industry.
Released this month, the commission's report noted that
despite "record deficits, government expenditures for travel have grown by
leaps and bounds." According to the commission's report, the federal
government spent $14.8 billion on travel during fiscal year 2007, up from $9
billion in fiscal year 2001. "The fact that travel spending is rising at
such a rapid pace would seem to be counterintuitive, considering that the last
decade witnessed remarkable improvements in telecommunications technology,"
according to the report. The availability of such telecommunication
technologies "should have decreased the need for in-person meetings and
onsite visits."
The commission spotlighted the U.S. Department of Energy for
its plans to reduce by $3 million fiscal year 2011 travel expenditures via remote
conferencing technology. "By increasing reliance on Web cameras and other
video- and teleconferencing equipment, including instant chatting, DOE will
reduce the need for some business travel," according to the report. "This
will yield savings not only in terms of travel dollars, but also in travel time
for federal workers and contractors."
The commission estimated that such a policy applied to all
federal agencies would generate $4.22 billion in savings during the next 10
years.
The commission specifically accused the U.S. Department of
Justice of "wasteful spending." The DOJ budget request for fiscal
year 2011 called for $450 million in travel expenses.
DOJ's Office of the Inspector General similarly criticized
the department's travel spending. In a report released last week, OIG noted
that reimbursement for travel by DOJ attorneys exceeded federal government
lodging per diems set by the General Services Administration. "Many"
attorneys and their subordinates approved their own travel and a "small
number" of attorneys routinely exceeded per diems by large amounts without
justification, according to the DOJ OIG report. It also found that almost 66
percent of all DOJ attorneys between 2007 and 2009 exceeded per diem limits at
least once, and nearly one in five did so at least five times. In describing "problems
and abuses," OIG recommended the department alter its travel policy to
specify that travelers cannot approve their own trips.
Targeting Airports
The commission report also suggested that the Federal
Aviation Administration should eliminate grants to large and medium-sized hub
airports and that airports should fund a larger portion of the cost of aviation
security. According to the commission, eliminating grants to airports to expand
runways, improve safety and security and make other capital investments as part
of the Airport Improvement Program would save about $1.2 billion.
"Federal grants to airports merely substitute for funds
that large to medium-sized airports would otherwise raise from private sources,
such as investments and passenger fees," according to the report.
The commission also proposed amending the Aviation and
Transportation Security Act of 2001 to allow airlines to increase passenger
security charges, now capped at $5 for a one-way trip. "By increasing
fees, the airlines would be less subsidized toward airport security—a basic
cost of airline transportation, in line with labor and fuel costs,"
according to the report.
USTA: No Arbitrary
Cuts
"The government should always look at ways to reduce
expenses, and we saw that in the last recession," according to U.S. Travel
Association executive vice president Geoff Freeman. "Travel is frequently
one way of reducing expenses. We would advise to reduce unnecessary travel but
keep that travel that has a return on investment. That is important; you can't
just do arbitrary travel cuts.
"There is a difference between what the deficit
commission is doing and what the GSA is doing," Freeman continued,
referencing a U.S. General Services Administration initiative to reduce
business-travel-related greenhouse gas emissions. "In an effort to protect
the environment, they think that cutting travel is the single best thing that
the government needs to do. We take issue with that on a variety of levels.
There needs to be much more dialogue on sustainable travel rather than
arbitrarily cut travel."
Freeman noted that USTA did not provide testimony to the
commission, "nor did [the commission] signal that arbitrary cuts in travel
was going to be an area where they focus on. The deficit commission has a lot
of interesting recommendations. We will see where that [report] goes. It is an
excellent start that will force us to have a discussion about how we address
the deficit. Travel may or may not be part of that."
This report appears in
the Nov. 29 issue of Business Travel News.