Legislation means faster processing of passport applications
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords today voted for legislation that will permit the State Department to devote more resources to processing passport applications.
“My office has been inundated with calls from constituents who are experiencing unacceptable delays in getting their passports,” the Tucson lawmaker said. “Some residents of Southeastern Arizona have waited up to four months for their applications to be processed. The bill I voted for today will help change that.”
The Passport Backlog Reduction Act of 2007, which passed the House of Representatives this afternoon, lifts restrictions on the ability of the State Department to hire personnel who are trained and authorized to process passport applications. The Senate passed a similar measure on June 29.
Nationally, about three million passport applications are now pending. Giffords’ district offices in Tucson and Sierra Vista have assisted approximately 280 constituents get their passports since taking office in January.
“Every year, hundreds of thousands of Americans leave the country to conduct business, study, visit relatives or vacation,” Giffords said. “The federal government should not stand in their way.”
Congress enacted the Intelligence Reform Act in December 2004. This legislation included a provision that required the Homeland Security and State Departments to develop a plan – known as the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) – under which Americans would be required to show passports when traveling from certain Western Hemisphere countries that were previously exempted from such requirements, including Canada and Mexico.
Although the State Department had known about the new requirements since 2004, it did not take the steps necessary to prepare for the predictable increase in passport applications beginning in January 2007.
In the first seven months of FY 2007, there was a 33 percent increase in applications over the same period in FY 2006. According to State Department figures, as many as one million passport applications have been filed each month since January.