When the Travel Promotion Act passed the Senate in 2010, the vote was 78-18. The law, which created the Corporation for Travel Promotion (Brand USA), was justly declared to be a bipartisan effort. But that does not mean that the partisan ideologues went away.
Six U.S. senators, including four who voted against the law, are now demanding that the Commerce Department and the corporation turn over a mountain of documents and records to help clear up their concerns about "waste and misuse of funds."
Although all senators have every right to be concerned about anything that moves them, to understand what's going on here it's important to start where cub reporters are told to start: Who and What.
As for the "Who," the six senators do not represent the Commerce Committee or any of the committees with jurisdiction and oversight responsibility for the Commerce Department or Brand USA.
Only one of the six even sits on the Commerce Committee. If the committee with the oversight role isn't concerned, then who is?
As far as we can tell, Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) have but one thing in common: All six are conservative and/or Republican and/or associated with the Tea Party movement.
As for the "What," the evidence of "waste and misuse" is scant.
The senators' letter stated, "It is our understanding that in November 2011, the entire Corporation Board traveled to London to attend the World Travel Market."
As far as we can tell, this is true. But it is also true that none of the board members traveled at Brand USA's expense, something that any congressional staffer could have learned with one phone call.
The letter also quotes from a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report of three months ago, which noted that Brand USA awarded a contract to JWT to develop its advertising campaign "without first going through the bidding process" common to federal procurement.
This is also true, but the same GAO report also stated that Congress "does not require the Corporation for Travel Promotion to follow federal procurement policies and procedures."
The GAO did recommend that Brand USA adopt federal procurement guidelines as a "good practice" because it facilitates things for GAO auditors, but it did not conclude that there was anything wrong with the contract award to JWT.
The third big item in the senators' letter was a "lavish" Brand USA launch party at World Travel Market. A video on the Web shows scenes from this event. It shows people having a good time.
The legislation establishing the Corporation for Travel Promotion requires oversight by the Commerce Department; it requires GAO audits and periodic reports to various committees of Congress. That monitoring and oversight has been ongoing and has produced no evidence to date of "waste and misuse of funds."
So much for the "What." There is no "What."
Brand USA's track record has not been perfect, but it has many things to be proud of, and from everything we've seen, fiscal responsibility is one of them.
Congress -- all of it -- should give Brand USA a fair chance to tackle the important job it was assigned to do.