Motion to Discharge

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, I do want to compliment my colleague. He comes from a beautiful State. While I would like all of the tourists to come to Florida, Alaska is a great State to take a vacation. I have had the opportunity to do that a few times, and it is a beautiful State.

I thank my colleagues Senator Sullivan and Senator Rubio for working on this bill that is so important to all of our States but, for sure, Florida and Alaska.

Many States rely on the success of our ports, our cruise lines, and our maritime industries. Throughout my time as the Governor of Florida, we proudly welcomed more than 100 million visitors every year and shattered annual tourism records each year. Every visitor to our State supports small businesses, fuels job growth, and boosts tax revenue, helping to create State and local investments in the environment, transportation, public safety, and education.

And it is not just Florida and Alaska. Tourism, including our all- important cruise industry, has huge impacts for States across our Nation and the thousands of jobs that rely on its success.

On the chart you can look at this.

So, first off, the cruise industry shutdown is just killing a lot of jobs--jobs all across this country. Before the COVID-19, we had 450,000 jobs--450,000 American jobs--and $55 billion in GDP every year in our economy.

Unfortunately, due to the suspension of cruises caused by the CDC inaction, more than 300,000 American jobs have been lost. So this is all across our country.

As we continue to work to recover from the coronavirus and get our economy back on track, I remain committed to doing everything I can to support our tourism industry in Florida, Alaska, and all across the country in a safe manner.

Unfortunately, while many sectors of the economy have been safely operating for months under CDC guidelines, Floridians and those across the Nation who rely on the cruise industry for work, continue to wait, wait, wait, wait for updated guidance from the CDC.

For months, I have heard from small business owners who have shared just all their stories about how important tourism is to them and, specifically, that the cruise industry is to their livelihood and how much the CDC's decision here has hurt them.

Let me give you an example. Omar Otero, founder and owner of VOK Protective Services, says:

As a business owner, I've been dependent on the cruise industry for my livelihood for 20 years, and this pause has been devastating. What many people don't see behind the scenes is that cruising has a significant impact on many small businesses, and employs hundreds of thousands of people in America. Resuming cruising is critical to my business and would allow me to work again and support my family.

Jeannette Pineiro, president of Cruiseport Destinations, says:

The uncertainty we've been living with the last year is probably the most devastating mentally for a business owner. I have former employees that are still unemployed. They want to get back to work, and there has been nothing I could do. The cruise industry needs to be treated on par with other sectors of the travel industry, and this legislation would provide a plan to safely resume cruise operations.

The CDC's refusal to properly address this shutdown is wrong. It is time to get the cruise lines open, and it is going to create jobs all across the country.

That is why I am proud to join my colleagues Senator Sullivan and Senator Rubio in introducing the CRUISE Act, which says we are not waiting on the CDC any longer.

In March, President Biden announced the effort to vaccinate all Americans--his plan to vaccinate all Americans by July 4.

As of this week, all adults will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccines. Our Nation has made enormous progress in fighting COVID-19. Yet the CDC has continued to act like we are still in March 2020. Meanwhile, as my colleague from Alaska said, there is cruising all over the rest of the world.

My colleagues and I are simply asking the CDC to provide a timeline of when the cruise industry can begin to reopen, like so many other sectors, and the CRUISE Act ensures they can do that in a safe manner.

The CDC is treating the cruise sector unfairly, while other industries are open for business. There is no reason why America's cruise industry and the thousands of jobs that rely on its success should continue to suffer.

Cruises can and should resume, and we are going to do everything we can to bring back cruising safely.

I yield to my colleague from Alaska.

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Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, well, I am clearly disappointed that my colleague from Washington would object to this commonsense proposal.

The cruise industry impacts thousands of jobs, not just in Florida and not just in Alaska but in the State of Washington. Everybody here I know wants to make sure that we can start cruising again in a safe manner.

Let's remember what my colleague was talking about. She was talking about what was going on in March and April in 2020. But today, hotels are open, airlines are flying, beaches are open, restaurants are open, tourism sites are open, and amusement parks are open. They are all open, but for whatever reason, the CDC has made the decision to not allow cruising to happen, and they have singled out this industry and cannot tell any of us why they singled this out.

All we are asking is for the CDC to provide a timeline of when the cruise industry can begin to reopen. The cruise industry wants to do it safely. It is a lot of American jobs, including--I think it is--23,000 jobs and a billion dollars in economic impact in the State of Washington.

So I know everybody says they want to get this done, but the only way this is going to happen is if we make sure that we force the CDC to finally make a decision and allow the cruise industry to get open again in a safe manner.

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