Why Lawmakers Are So Uneasy About Giving the Cruise Industry a Bailout
Skift Take
Corporate bailouts are never popular with the average voter. But bailing out the cruise industry — which goes out of its way to avoid paying U.S. federal taxes — is proving a particularly hard case to make as the travel industry appeals to Congress for help.
As Congress battles over a $1.3 trillion financial rescue package for the American economy and travel industry, the inclusion of the cruise industry in such a deal remains a sticking point.
While the industry has received no shortage of negative attention for its handling of the crisis, President Trump, a longtime friend of the industry, has said several times the industry deserves financial assistance. But interestingly, major opposition to the idea of a cruise bailout is not centered on the industry's handling of the coronavirus crisis, but rather around criticisms that have dogged the industry for years. Democratic and Republican lawmakers are reportedly uneasy about bailing out a non-essential industry that places much of its operations outside of the U.S.
Last week, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal, Edward Markey, Sheldon Whitehouse and five other Democratic senators published a letter saying that airline and cruise industries should only receive financial aid if they are forced to clean up their environmental practices as a condition of receiving assistance. Over the weekend, a coalition of environmental groups also sent a letter to Senate and House leaders opposing any bailout for the cruise industry.
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"Providing U.S. taxpayer dollars to massive foreign cruise ship corporations that pollute our environ