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Three Nevada state officials have urged the Obama administration to remove Las Vegas from its list of cities that federal officials are prohibited to travel to for conferences.
The federal blacklist, made during the Bush administration, included cities that were seen as too "leisure-oriented" such as Las Vegas and Reno. These are places were federal offices cannot hold meetings, conferences or seminars.
NV Senator Harry sent a letter to cabinet secretaries and heads of all USfederal agencies through Attorney General Eric Holder. NV Congresswomen Shelly Berkley and Dina Titus, meanwhile, sent a similar joint letter directly to President Obama.
"I am writing to request that you reject or reverse any agency policy regarding official travel for your employees that discriminates against specific UScities, particularly Las Vegas and Reno," Sen. Reid said in his July 27th letter.
Several federal agencies have adopted guidelines that identify cities also known as resort or vacation destinations as inappropriate venues for official agency travel and meetings, the senator said.
"I was glad to learn recently that the White House shares my strong view that decisions concerning government travel, or where to locate official meetings, should be determined by a cost-benefit analysis as opposed to perceptions about a particular location," he added.
Earlier this month, the senator sent a letter to President Obama asking to remove Las Vegas from the said "blacklist." White House chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel replied with a letter to the senator clarifying the Obama administration’s view that decisions on government travel should focus on the cost-benefit of travel rather than the perception of a location.
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