A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has introduced the VISIT USA Act — the Vital Investment in Sustaining International Tourism to the USA Act — in an effort to reverse a steep cut to national tourism marketing funding that took effect this summer. The bill would fully restore the federal appropriation for Brand USA, the public-private organization that markets the country to international travelers, across fiscal years 2026 and 2027.

The cut it aims to undo was significant. Brand USA’s federal match dropped from $100 million to $20 million under the summer budget reconciliation bill, an 80% reduction to a program funded by a portion of the fees international visitors already pay to enter the country. The VISIT USA Act would return that appropriation to its full $100 million.

The legislation is led by Senators Dan Sullivan, Amy Klobuchar, Shelley Moore Capito, and Jacky Rosen, and has drawn 14 co-sponsors split across both parties. Its backers frame the funding around a dense stretch of inbound-travel moments: the nation’s 250th anniversary this year, the FIFA World Cup, and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Why It Matters to the Industry

For destination organizations that depend on international visitation, Brand USA functions as shared top-of-funnel infrastructure — the entity making the case for the country as a whole before a traveler ever chooses a specific city or state. A funding gap at that level is the kind of thing that quietly reshapes how much individual destinations have to spend to reach overseas audiences on their own.

Whether the bill moves is a separate question from whether the industry wants it to. Restoring the appropriation still has to clear a crowded legislative calendar, and the debate is unfolding right as the country prepares to host some of the largest inbound-travel events in a decade. That mismatch in timing is the part practitioners are watching most closely.