CHICAGO
PCMA President and CEO Deborah Sexton sent a letter to members today, May 17, urging them to write a personalized message to members of Congress asking them to support changes to amendments that passed the House and Senate which will greatly curtail spending on government meetings.
The proposed modifications to the amendments request a change of the definition of a conference to apply only to government-sponsored meetings as intended, and not include meetings and conferences held by associations and other private sector organizations; and to strike the provision in the amendment that restricts agencies from attending more than one conference held by a private organization per fiscal year.
For more tips on how to write the letter, go to the template provided by another industry organization, ASAE, which is available here
ASAE, PCMA and other industry organizations delivered their own letter to Congress last week with 2,100 signatures. Subsequent to the letter delivery, the Obama administration issued a directive to federal agencies to cut their travel budgets for fiscal year 2013 by 30 percent and cap spending on government-sponsored conferences at $500,000.
These new restrictions apply only to government travel and conference spending, and do not have the broader implications for association and other private sector meetings that were evident in the amendments cleared by the House and Senate just prior to the last Congressional recess.
