Congress has adjourned for the August recess and representatives and senators are back in their home states until after Labor Day. When Congress reconvenes on September 8, there will be only 15 working days to address all of the pending issues of the 110th Congress.
The STS Congressional Summit has been scheduled at a crucial date to allow one last push to ensure that critical legislation is not left on the table and to lay the groundwork for a productive 111th Congress.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit held a hearing to examine how to address the billions of dollars in unmet needs in the nation's transportation systems without breaking the bank.
House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.) warned that "we're not going to have enough money for everything" and recited the expensive needs laid out by the state and local transportation officials to the Highways and Transit Subcommittee. The panel has been charged with developing the first version of a plan to cope with a potentially looming crisis. More...
U.S. Share of Foreign Tourism Slips
The Associated Press reported that despite the weak U.S. dollar, a boom in international travel around the world hasn't translated into an explosion of foreign tourists to the United States.
According to the U.N. World Tourism Organization, the United States had 51 million international visitors in 2000, more than 7 percent of the 682 million international arrivals worldwide. But as international arrivals worldwide jumped to 846 million in 2006, the U.S. saw roughly the same number of visitors as it used to -- dropping its share to 6 percent. More...
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Representatives Sam Farr (D-Calif.) and Jon Porter (R-Nev.), co-chairs of the Congressional Travel and Tourism Caucus hosted a roundtable with House Leaders, Committee Chairs and Ranking Members, and the Secretaries of Commerce and Homeland Security on the significance of travel to the U.S. economy. The caucus is a group of 99 bipartisan members of Congress with the goal of promoting the travel industry within the halls of Congress. More...
Meet Reps. Farr and Porter at the STS Congressional Summit Wednesday, Sept. 24
House Approves New Historic Trail That Traces American Revolution’s Final Campaign
The House last month approved H.R. 1286, a bill to designate a new historic trail along the East Coast commemorating the military campaign which led to American independence from Britain. The measure would create a 600-mile national historic trail tracing the journey of the Continental Army under George Washington and French forces under the Comte de Rochambeau from Providence, R.I., to Yorktown, Va., where British forces surrendered in October 1781. The trail would be administered by the National Park Service.
Nick J. Rahall II (D-W.V.) who chairs the Natural Resources Committee, said there is no reason to worry about the bill’s effect on private property. “Most of this trail follows public roads or crosses public lands,” Rahall said.
H.R. 1286 would also bar the federal government from acquiring land for the trail without the consent of property owners. The House adopted a substitute amendment to clarify that the bill does not limit access to hunting, fishing or shooting or a state’s right to regulate those activities.
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