Legislators rally behind Las Vegas and Orlando for alleged ban on travel

"Eliminating Central Florida based on perception, rather than actualcost, could lead to government waste," said Florida Rep. Suzanne Kosmasin a press release. The congresswoman has called for an investigationinto "blacklisting' leisure or resort destinations.

That's exactly the problem there. Vegas and Orlando have some of the best room deals anywhere, not to mention ridiculous amounts of meeting space. However, we don't need an investigation (seriously, who cares at this point?). Just fix the problem and move on.

Do we really need to have "legislation" to prohibit agencies from steering their events away from these vacation spots? I mean, can't common sense come into play with anything anymore, or do we need legislation to allow us to exercise that as well?

The irony is probably that it's Congresscritters who pressured various administrators around the federal government to try and push this kind of "ban" in the first place.

My thought is, where else could you triple your Per Diem in one hand or spin of the wheel ;)

Not that I have done such things..

Bird Of Prey01 said:
Do we really need to have "legislation" to prohibit agencies from steering their events away from these vacation spots? I mean, can't common sense come into play with anything anymore, or do we need legislation to allow us to exercise that as well?

My guess would be that legislation is the only way to get the agencies to consider these venues in the future. That's largely due to this:

The Orange County Convention and Visitors Bureau in Orlando says... "We agree that taxpayer dollars should be spent wisely. However, the politicial rhetoric has created an environment where corporate CEOs are cancelling meetings due to the possibility they may be vilified by the media."

And they have a point. Right or wrong, that's exactly the culture of things right now. Perception, particularly once spun by an article or two, will kill these organizations whether it makes any sense or not. If there's legislation essentially forcing these agencies to consider these venues, then at least they have covered their sensitive posteriors.

The attitude towards and treatment of individuals in this country sucks. It's practically a "crime" now to achieve the American dream. If you're successful and make money then you are viewed as the problem. The government and media is treating businesses, business owners and successful individuals as if they are the criminals. Business should be fun and employees are far more productive when they're happy.