The impact of the upcoming sequester deadline - this Friday - on business travel and the nation’s economy was targeted by Michael W. McCormick, Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) executive director and COO in a statement made public today.
“The country is fast approaching the March 1 deadline for across-the-board cuts in every program, project, and agency in the Federal government. While the debate about the true impact on agency services rages, even the potential for significant disruptions in air travel is seriously disruptive to businesses," McCormick said.
"Threatened reductions in air traffic controllers, customs clearance officers, and TSA officials staffing airport checkpoints risk long lines, system slow-downs, and general delays. This is bad news for the millions of business travelers each month - people working to secure new business opportunities, maintain existing partnerships, increase profits for their companies, and grow overall employment," he said.
"Nothing could be worse for commerce and the nation’s economic recovery. Time is short. Elected officials must work together. Rather than blunt cuts with unpredictable ramifications, GBTA supports a return to the regular order of consideration of authorization and appropriations bills in Congress, and a solid, smart approach to funding the government for the next seven months. We need a responsible path forward to address the nation’s concerns about our growing debt and deficits," McCormick said.
Collectively, GBTA’s 5,000-plus members manage over $340 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually.
Visit gbta.org