Senate Votes to Slash Brand USA Funding, Faces Budget Crisis
Photo Credit: Travelers shopping for souvenirs as depicted in a Brand USA video. Brand USA/Youtube
Skift Take
Facing ballooning federal government budget deficits, Brand USA's funding got caught in the crossfire.
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed a Republican-backed budget bill that would slash Brand USA's matching funds from $100 million a year to just $20 million. The controversial bill now moves to the House of Representatives.
At the same time, Brand USA faces another funding crisis — it hasn't received any matching funds from the federal government since January, according to a source close to the U.S. Travel Association and Brand USA.
That puts a strain on Brand USA's resources. It still plans to launch its America the Beautiful global marketing campaign in August, but it may begin on a smaller scale than was initially envisioned, the source said. The campaign has multiple layers, and Brand USA can roll out different levels depending how much money it has.
“We would have to scale the organization, right?," Brand USA CEO Fred Dixon said in a Skift interview at the IPW conference in Chicago a couple of weeks ago about the prospect of the bill to c
