Ned
12-18-2007, 06:09 PM
Congress is at it again, seeking to delay the new security rules at all US borders, which would require a passport for air/sea travel, and a passport or passcard for land travel. I applaud the Bush administration (Gosh did I really say that?) for opposing the delay. The State Department and Department of Homeland Security have ramped up passport processing, so that unless US Citizens are really stupid again, and wait until the last minute to apply for their passports, we shouldn't see the kind of situation as we had in the recent past.
Congress is seeking to delay things until June, 2009. What utter nonsense. I agree with Department of Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke, when he says that, "A delay in WHTI implementation would create the very type of chaos at the border that Congress has repeatedly urged our department to avoid." I completely disagree with Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn. who believes the delay is essential to avoid the passport processing problems of the past. "Norm, surprise surprise, your administration has hired hundreds and hundreds of additional people who are on the job to process passport applications. They're ready for the next passport onslaught."
US Citizens, if you don't have a passport now, and you plan to travel out of the US anytime in the next 12 to 18 months, put your passport application in NOW. Don't wait. By the way, if you've got it, and you see a super special in the newspaper, or on the Internet, or your TA calls you to tell you about a 4 night special cruise to the Bahamas for $550 including airfare to get to Miami, you're all set.
Congress seeks to delay border security rule (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22300733/)
Fearing passport crunch, tourism concerns, lawmakers want more time
WASHINGTON -AP via MSNBC.com- -December 17, 2007- Congress is seeking to delay a new security rule requiring passports at all U.S. border crossings next year in hopes of avoiding a repeat of last summer's vacation-killing backlog of passport applications.
The Bush administration said Monday it opposed the measure and still plans to go forward with implementing the planned passport rule next summer.
Lawmakers said Monday that under a major end-of-the-year spending bill to be voted on this week, the border passport rule would be moved back even further, to no earlier than June 1, 2009.
The first phase of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, or WHTI, went into effect earlier this year, requiring U.S. travelers returning by plane from Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean to carry a passport. As a result of the new requirements, demand for passports soared and the State Department issued a record 18.4 million passports in fiscal year 2007, compared to 12.1 million in 2006.
As a result, wait times for passports ballooned from four to six weeks to 12 weeks, but they have since returned to normal.
Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., said the government should have more time to implement the law, and "do it in a way that won't cause the same passport headaches we saw with the air travel requirement earlier this year."
In border states like Coleman's, the new laws have also raised concerns that local trade and tourism will suffer. In response, the State Department plans to create passcards which will cost less than half the nearly $100 charged for a new passport.
Department of Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said the agency opposes the measure but doesn't believe it will actually stop their implementation plan for the border passport rule.
"A delay in WHTI implementation would create the very type of chaos at the border that Congress has repeatedly urged our department to avoid," Knocke said...
Congress is seeking to delay things until June, 2009. What utter nonsense. I agree with Department of Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke, when he says that, "A delay in WHTI implementation would create the very type of chaos at the border that Congress has repeatedly urged our department to avoid." I completely disagree with Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn. who believes the delay is essential to avoid the passport processing problems of the past. "Norm, surprise surprise, your administration has hired hundreds and hundreds of additional people who are on the job to process passport applications. They're ready for the next passport onslaught."
US Citizens, if you don't have a passport now, and you plan to travel out of the US anytime in the next 12 to 18 months, put your passport application in NOW. Don't wait. By the way, if you've got it, and you see a super special in the newspaper, or on the Internet, or your TA calls you to tell you about a 4 night special cruise to the Bahamas for $550 including airfare to get to Miami, you're all set.
Congress seeks to delay border security rule (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22300733/)
Fearing passport crunch, tourism concerns, lawmakers want more time
WASHINGTON -AP via MSNBC.com- -December 17, 2007- Congress is seeking to delay a new security rule requiring passports at all U.S. border crossings next year in hopes of avoiding a repeat of last summer's vacation-killing backlog of passport applications.
The Bush administration said Monday it opposed the measure and still plans to go forward with implementing the planned passport rule next summer.
Lawmakers said Monday that under a major end-of-the-year spending bill to be voted on this week, the border passport rule would be moved back even further, to no earlier than June 1, 2009.
The first phase of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, or WHTI, went into effect earlier this year, requiring U.S. travelers returning by plane from Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean to carry a passport. As a result of the new requirements, demand for passports soared and the State Department issued a record 18.4 million passports in fiscal year 2007, compared to 12.1 million in 2006.
As a result, wait times for passports ballooned from four to six weeks to 12 weeks, but they have since returned to normal.
Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., said the government should have more time to implement the law, and "do it in a way that won't cause the same passport headaches we saw with the air travel requirement earlier this year."
In border states like Coleman's, the new laws have also raised concerns that local trade and tourism will suffer. In response, the State Department plans to create passcards which will cost less than half the nearly $100 charged for a new passport.
Department of Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said the agency opposes the measure but doesn't believe it will actually stop their implementation plan for the border passport rule.
"A delay in WHTI implementation would create the very type of chaos at the border that Congress has repeatedly urged our department to avoid," Knocke said...