ASTA Assesses Trump Presidency Impact On Agents
by Richard D'Ambrosio /Photo: Strange Luke
“While much is undetermined, it is possible to assess how the new Administration and Congressional landscape will impact some of the policy priorities ASTA is pursuing on behalf of our members,” ASTA said, focusing on the FAA Reauthorization bill, the Department of Labor overtime and independent contractor rules, and travel to Cuba.
- FAA Reauthorization – this “must-pass” legislation expires in September 2017, and sets aviation policy generally and authorizes the collection of federal aviation taxes. “Republican committee members might be more receptive to airline efforts to include the so-called Transparent Airfares Act (which ASTA has opposed since it was introduced in 2014) but at the same time are likely to be open to ASTA's ideas for reducing the overall regulatory burden on travel agents who sell air,” ASTA said.
- Overtime/Blacklist – On December 1, new Department of Labor (DOL) rules go into effect more than doubling the salary threshold under which employees are guaranteed overtime. While ASTA is supporting legislative efforts to kill or delay the rule, it also petitioned DOL to allow travel agencies to use a “retail exemption” that would protect them from the rule. “We believe a Trump Administration DOL is more likely to roll back or delay the overtime rules and grant our blacklist petition than a Clinton Administration DOL would have been,” ASTA said.
- Independent Contractors – For years, Congressional Democrats and the Obama Administration have been pushing measures to crack down on the use of independent contractors (ICs), a key issue given the estimated 20,000 ICs in our industry. ASTA believes that “the overall regulatory environment for ICs at the DOL, Internal Revenue Service, etc. is likely to improve,” and “conditions are now ripe” for passing legislation to harmonize the various IC tests the government uses to determine an employee’s status.
- Cuba Travel –“is the most concerning” because while the statutory “travel ban” remains, “the Obama Administration opened up Cuba travel regulations as far as they can go without changing the law.” ASTA noted that Candidate Trump in mid-October tweeted: "Will reverse Obama's Executive Orders and concessions towards Cuba until freedoms are restored." But that was while campaigning for votes in Florida. “How and even whether he will follow through on this given the many other priorities he'll have upon assuming office is impossible to know today,” ASTA wrote.
Further, like other Washington watchers, ASTA noted how this year’s election gave the Republicans control of both the White House and Congress for the first time since 2007, and inferred this might help propel legislation along faster for the travel industry.
“We look forward to working with the new Administration and Congressional leaders toward a legislative, regulatory and business landscape favorable to ASTA members,” ASTA said.
ASTA noted that this year’s election “didn't bring much in the way of turnover,” on Capitol Hill, including on the key committees that ASTA regularly engages such as the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
ASTAPAC supported a number of key legislators for reelection in 2016, including Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune (R-SD), Incoming Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Travel and Tourism Caucus Co-Chairs Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Brian Schatz (D-HI).
On the House side, reelected members ASTAPAC supported include Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA), Aviation Subcommittee Chair Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) and Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-WA), Travel and Tourism Caucus Co-Chair Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) and Small Business Committee Ranking Member Nydia Velazquez (D-NY).