---
title: "Travel Log: History of the Federal Conference Travel Crackdown"
id: "19775"
type: "post"
slug: "travel-log-history-of-the-federal-conference-travel-crackdown"
published_at: "2013-10-01T11:30:37+00:00"
modified_at: "2026-03-15T21:14:40+00:00"
url: "https://associationsnow.com/2013/10/01/travel-log-history-of-the-federal-conference-travel-crackdown/"
markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2013/10/01/travel-log-history-of-the-federal-conference-travel-crackdown.md"
excerpt: "How the crackdown on federal conference travel has played out over the past year and a half."
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  - "Meetings / Events"
taxonomy_post_tag:
  - "AssociationsNow"
  - "conferences"
  - "federal agencies"
  - "Meetings"
  - "travel expenses"
taxonomy_content_format:
  - "Article"
taxonomy_role:
  - "C-Level"
  - "Executive Team"
taxonomy_persona:
  - "Executive Leadership"
---

[Home](https://associationsnow.com/)
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 » Travel Log: History of the Federal Conference Travel Crackdown

**April 2012:** Inspector general’s report on 2010 GSA conference details the roughly $800,000 the agency spent in Las Vegas.

**May 2012:** OMB calls on federal agencies to reduce FY 2013 travel expenses by at least 30 percent from FY 2010 levels through FY 2016.

**March 2013:** Sequester goes into effect.

**May 2013:** [OMB issues new guidance](http://associationsnow.com/2013/05/omb-issues-new-guidance-on-conferences/)
 on agency conference spending, stressing that agencies should not consider the earlier OMB guidance to cut back on spending as a moratorium on travel or conference attendance.

**June 2013:**[IRS falls under congressional scrutiny](http://associationsnow.com/2013/06/acting-irs-commissioner-danny-werfel-conference-spending-in-check/)
 after release of an inspector general’s report detailing $4 million the agency spent on a 2010 conference.

(photo by Bombaert Patrick/Shutterstock)

[Katie Bascuas](https://associationsnow.com/author/katie-bascuas/)

Katie Bascuas is a former associate editor at Associations Now in Washington, DC.

[More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/katie-bascuas/)

Tags: [#conferences](https://associationsnow.com/tag/conferences/)
 [#federal agencies](https://associationsnow.com/tag/federal-agencies/)
 [#Meetings](https://associationsnow.com/tag/meetings/)
 [#travel expenses](https://associationsnow.com/tag/travel-expenses/)

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