Senate Proceeding on Sep 8th, 2009 :: 3:03:00 to 3:12:25
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3:02:56 to 3:03:17( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: bill and we appreciate her support as well. but this is a bipartisan piece of legislation thathis country needs right now. it needs anything that's going to create jobs and not add to the deficit. floor. reserve the balance of our time. the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. dorgan: i yield ten minutes

3:03:00 to 3:12:25( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Amy Klobuchar

3:03:18 to 3:03:40( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: on our time to klobuchar. ms. klobuchar: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: thank you, mr. president. just as the senator from nevada was discussing, all of us were home in the last month, heard a lot about health care -- and i know we'll be having an extensive debate and doing some very important work in this area -- heard a lot about the economy. well, this bill is about an

3:03:41 to 3:04:01( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: industry that one out of eight americans is employed in. one out of eight americans. and if there is something we can do, which we know we can do with this bill, to help promote more jobs in this industry without costing taxpayers any this is the time to do it. i want to first thank senator dorgan, the senator from north dakota, for his tireless work for years on this bill.

3:04:02 to 3:04:22( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: i was listening as senator ensign went through all of t wonders of nevada, and we all know there's some great tourism there, but he failed to mention teddy roosevelt park in north dakota, a place that i have visited i hope many people have come to the ml of america in minnesota as well as a lot of our beautiful forests and lakes.

3:04:23 to 3:04:44( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: every state has something to proud of when it comes to travel. today we have the opportunity to help this industry with the travel promotion act, and we should not let it go to waste. as mentioned, i'm the chair of the commerce subcommittee that deals with tourism, but i also come from a state that values common sense, and supporting legislation that will create

3:04:45 to 3:05:05( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: jobs, generate spending, and reduce the deficit, all cost to the taxpayers, is the definition of common sense. just look at the numbers. this bill is expected to bring in 1.6 million new international sitors each 1.6 million. and do you know how much they spend, mr. president?

3:05:06 to 3:05:27( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: they spend $4,500 on average when they come here. you can do the math. 1.6 million new $4,500 every single year in this country. in fact, some economists expect the bill to generate $4 billion

3:05:28 to 3:05:52( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: in new spending and $321 mill million in new tax revenue. it's estimated to create 41,000 new jofnltz the congressional budget office estimates that this bill will reduce the budget deficit by $425 next ten years. remember those numbers. $4,500 per person for every visit, every year coming to our country, $4 billion in new

3:05:53 to 3:06:13( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: spending, 40,000 in new jobs, cost to the taxpayer, zero. during these tough economic times, how could we not pass this bill, how could we not pass it right now when we know it would do so much good? along with my family, many areas in our state and we did tourism hearings and various events around this bill in northern minnesota. i'll be honest, at first i

3:06:14 to 3:06:34( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: thought, well, they want tourism, it's a big industry in our state, but do they really care about this bill? and that's when i found out that they dreel care about this bill so -- they r this bill because so many visitors traditionally have come down from canada. and so many barriers of getting the visas barriers at the border, have affected tourism in

3:06:35 to 3:06:55( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: minnesota in places like grand maret, international falls, and the braynard lakes the statue of paul ba bunion and babe, the blue ox. minnesota shares this border with canada and i was very much surprised in how much interest there was in getting this bill passed. they understand we want to promote our country internationally, just like other countries which senator dorgan

3:06:56 to 3:07:16( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: and senator ensign have pointed out, have done for so long. but they also want to make it easier to process these visas. as you know, mr. president, this problem started way befor the economy started having troubles. it occurred after 9/11, where for very good reasons, there were some tighter visa requirements put in place. is problem, is behind that a lot of people who

3:07:17 to 3:07:40( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: are living in, say, france, they have to think, well, am i going to america where maybe it's goin my visa, or maybe i'll just go over to england or maybe i'll just go to japan. and so we need to speed up the proces we know that tourism creates good jobs that can't be outsourced. it increases sales for local businesses and it brings in tax

3:07:41 to 3:08:02( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: revenue for local and state economies. one of my favorite examples is duluth. it's not las vegas but listen to this start. duluth is a port city that was hit hard by 1970's and the early 1980's. my dad is from northern minnesota. we go up there a lot and i could see how much that community was hurting during that time. and at one point it was so bad that they put a bill board, a

3:08:03 to 3:08:23( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: famous tanned thatown that said, "will the last one out, please turn out the lights." well, the lights are still on in deexpleut there's as bright as ever, and a lot has to do with tourism. the citie has

3:08:24 to 3:08:49( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: the beautiful welcoming 4 million visitors each year with a annual economic impact of over $700 millionment now,00 million.now, we know the tourism industry is feeling the effects of t on top of that, as i mentioned, the u.s. has seen its decline i the tourism industry in the past decade. as we see here, the u.s. share of t

3:08:51 to 3:09:12( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: decreased by nearly 20%, costing us hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in revenue. when a traveler decides to go somewhere else besides t united states, there's a ripally effect throughout our economy. un, you think -- a ripple affect throughout our economy. you know, you think about the hotels and airlines. but do you know who else you should think about? you should think about the person who's working making beds in the hotel or the waitress

3:09:13 to 3:09:33( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: who's working in a restaurant their drive up, or you think about the florist who's getting those flowers ready for the business conference. those are all jobs. those are all jobs in this economy. last year, nearly 200,000 travel-related jobs were lost and the commerce department predicts that we'll lose 247,000 jobs this year.

3:09:34 to 3:09:54( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: well, we can do something about this. we can bring in more travelers. we can create more jobs, and we can boost our economy. that's why we need to pass the travel promotion act. first, this bill will create a public-private partnership to promote the united states as international travel destination

3:09:55 to 3:10:17( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: and finally establish a coordinated national program. senator dorgan had some amazing blowups of some of the work that you've seen in other countries. indonesia has their own program. bahamas enticing people to go there.

3:10:18 to 3:10:38( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: scot australia with their kangaroo. what do we have right? nothing. cities are going out there, places like new like las vegas. well, it's not as easy for some smal north dakota or vermont or new hampshire to do that, but this is a chance where we can actually promote our country internationally. and we are in major competion

3:10:39 to 3:11:00( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: for international travelers but we are not competing.in greece spent more than $150 million on travel promotion. france spent $63 million. that's what we're up against. it's time for the u.s. to catch up to the rest of the world. it's time for us to play on an even playing field. second, the bill will establish the office of travel promotion

3:11:01 to 3:11:22( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: in the dep work with the corporation for travel promotion and the secretaries of state and homeland security to make sure that international visitors are processed efficiently. it is time to cut through the re people in are going to these countrie to come to our country country. we have always been a country

3:11:23 to 3:11:43( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: that has opened our arms to people who want to come and visit. we've been proud of that bec we know that it doesn't only also has a diplomatic benefit. people who visit the united states are 74% more likely to have a favorable opinion of our country than those who have not visited.

3:11:44 to 3:12:05( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: as we enter a new era in interpret relations, travel can play an important role in building bridges between americans and people from across the globe. finally, as i mentioned earlier, this legislation will not cost taxpayers a dime. i think senator dorgan, it is a very good way to begin this session, to begin it by looking

3:12:06 to 3:12:27( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: at something that is paid for by a combination of private-sector contributions and a small fee on international travelers, non-u.s. taxpayers who are entering the united states. this is commonsense legislation. and you think about the positive ripple effect that will happen as more international visitors