Letter to Hon. Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of Transportation - Cortez Masto, Colleagues Send Bipartisan Letter Pressing US Department of Transportation For Update on Overdue National Travel and Tourism Infrastructure Plan

Letter

Dear Secretary Buttigieg:

We write to request that the Department of Transportation (DOT) fulfill the requirements of
Section 25018 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (P.L. 117-58) to update its National
Travel and Tourism Infrastructure Strategic Plan and develop an immediate-term and long-term
strategy for DOT and other agencies to use infrastructure to revive and support the travel and
tourism industry in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
(IIJA) into law. The new law includes our bipartisan TOURISM Act, requiring DOT to update the
National Travel and Tourism Infrastructure Strategic Plan within 180 days of enactment of the
law. On May 3, eleven days before the statutory deadline, you testified before the Senate
Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation about the work being done at DOT to
fulfill this mandate. We were pleased to hear that your team was participating in the Tourism
Policy Council and helping to develop a new National Travel and Tourism Strategy. You also
mentioned during the May 3 hearing that you were planning to integrate the National Travel and
Tourism Infrastructure Strategic Plan, required by the IIJA, with the National Travel and
Tourism Strategy upon its completion. We thank you for coordinating with the Department of
Commerce ahead of the release of their National Travel and Tourism Strategy on June 6, 2022,
which the Commerce Committee reviewed during a hearing held by the Tourism, Trade, and
Export Promotion Subcommittee in July.

Unfortunately, while it has now been well over 300 days since the IIJA was signed into law, and
more than 100 days since the Department of Commerce released its National Travel and Tourism
Strategy, we have not yet seen an updated National Travel and Tourism Infrastructure Strategic
Plan from DOT. The travel and tourism industry is the cornerstone of many of our states'
economies, responsible for millions of good-paying jobs across a number of industries. It is
imperative that DOT promptly update and release the National Travel and Tourism Infrastructure
Strategic Plan in order to meet the needs of the travel and tourism industry and the requirements
that Congress directed in enacted law.

We therefore request a briefing within 30 days of receiving this letter on the progress you are
making to update the Strategic Plan, including a proposed timeline for when this may be released
and an explanation for why the Department has missed the statutory deadline by more than four
months. We trust that DOT is committed to supporting the travel and tourism industry and its
dynamic workforce, but the Department still must fulfill this important mandate, as required by
law.

We look forward to hearing from you about the forthcoming updated Strategic Plan.

Sincerely,