‘I’m A Huge Dolly Parton Fan’: Diana Harshbarger & Gina Raimondo Discuss Music Tourism

5 months ago

During a House Energy & Commerce Committee hearing last week, Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-TN) questioned Commerce Sec. Gina Raimondo about music tourism and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

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Transcript

00:00Time to the gentlelady from Tennessee, Ms. Heischberger.

00:02Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for being here, Secretary.

00:07The Commerce Department's Assistant Secretary for Travel and Tourism is responsible for helping

00:12promote the tourism industry in the United States. In Tennessee, our music heritage has

00:18long been a draw for visitors across the country. Specifically in northeast Tennessee, my hometown,

00:24we have Bristol, the birthplace of country music. And the northeast Tennessee is also home of Dolly

00:29Parton. We have a world-renowned theme park, Dollywood and Pigeon Forge. And today, Congresswoman

00:36Barragan and myself introduced the American Music Tourism Act and legislation to explicitly include

00:42the promotion of music tourism in the role of the Assistant Secretary for Travel and Tourism.

00:49We think it's just common sense to recognize tourism as a catalyst for U.S. economic development.

00:55It's a fast-growing industry for the entire country, with projections estimating it will

01:00generate more than $11 billion in revenue by 2032. Does this sound like legislation you'd be willing

01:08to work with me to get signed into law? Absolutely. First, I do have to say I'm a huge, huge Dolly

01:15Parton fan. I had the opportunity to meet her a few years ago in Rhode Island. I was the governor

01:21and she came to the Folk Festival and it was, I was totally starstruck. Yeah. But besides that,

01:29yes, I mean we've talked with a lot of members today about how important it is. These are good

01:33jobs. There's a misperception that tourism jobs are low-quality jobs. Yes, ma'am. And that isn't

01:38true. Exactly. So I would absolutely love to work with you in a bipartisan way. I'll follow up with

01:44you and see if I can help. That would be great. The National Marine Fisheries Service, which is

01:50part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at the Department of Commerce,

01:55is working on a biological opinion resulting from an Endangered Species Act Section 7 consultation

02:02request from the Department of Interior to assess potential impacts to endangered species in the

02:08Gulf of Mexico. And as a result of Department of Interior permitted oil and natural gas activities,

02:15is the National Marine Fisheries Service still on schedule to complete the biological opinion in

02:21early 2025, as was previously indicated? Let me find you, I don't know off the top of my head,

02:28but I will get back to you later. Yeah, that would be great. And the next question is,

02:33the National Marine Fisheries Service is also slated to publish the final rule designating the

02:38Rice's Whale critical habitat in the Gulf of Mexico in the coming months. The designated area

02:44will be analyzed by the National Marine Fisheries Service and could be used as a reason to impose

02:49restrictions on oil and gas activities in the critical habitat area. It could also lead to

02:54severe disruptions for other marine industries. And my understanding is that there's little evidence

03:01to suggest the Rice's Whale is present in any meaningful capacity in the central and western

03:07Gulf of Mexico. And imposing harmful restrictions on Gulf users could even have more safety

03:13implications for Gulf mariners. In your opinion, is there sufficient science on Rice's Whales to

03:20determine critical habitat, or are you familiar with that? I am very familiar with this.

03:26This is in the middle of an active rulemaking, so I really am not permitted to comment on the

03:33details. Here's what I promise you, we're committed to following the science. We are reading every

03:39comment and engaging broadly with stakeholders, and we are committed to finding that right balance

03:45between, you know, I'm a Commerce Secretary, commerce, enabling commerce, and also though, like I said,

03:51following the science. We don't want to stifle these guys who make a living in the Gulf, so that

03:56would be great. The last question that I have time for is the United States is a world leader in the

04:02development and deployment of open RAN wireless networks. And as we know, the Commerce Department

04:07through NTIA continues to administer the public supply chain innovation fund to help entrants

04:13open the, enter the open RAN ecosystem. And my question is, what additional steps can you and

04:20the administration take to ensure that we remain the world leader of open RAN networks?

04:26Yeah, thank you. So, for those of you who aren't totally familiar with O-RAN, this is how we compete

04:32with China. Huawei is all over the world because it's cheap. Go to Latin America, Asia, they all buy

04:38Huawei because it's cheap. We need them to buy American. And so, the secret to that is O-RAN, the

04:43software. It allows us a product which is competitive. So, we are putting grants out. I will let, I'll get

04:51back to you and let you know exactly where we are. I know we've, well, I don't want to say the wrong

04:56thing. We're working hard to get the money out the door. It's a, it's a new technology. So, what we

05:02need to do is work with companies and entrepreneurs to quickly develop the technology so they can

05:07deploy it. As far as I'm concerned, we have to develop as fast as possible so we can be competitive.

05:13Well, I look forward to you getting back with me. And with that, I yield back.

‘I’m A Huge Dolly Parton Fan’: Diana Harshbarger & Gina Raimondo Discuss Music Tourism

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