Peninsula Daily News news services
WASHINGTON – 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 delay is part of a $500 billion omnibus budget bill that Congress wants to finish before the holidays and send off to President Bush for his signature.
The border passport rule would be moved from the summer of 2008 to no earlier than June 1, 2009.
But the Bush administration and the Homeland Security Department say they are determined to move forward with implementing the passport requirement as planned, regardless of how Congress votes.
The first phase of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, or WHTI, went into effect last January, requiring U.S. travelers returning by plane from Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean to show a passport.
The second phase slated for the summer, probably in June, will require passports at all land and sea portals.
Plans are also still in effect for an interim step that begins Jan. 31.
Next month’s rule will require all U.S. citizens at land and sea crossings to prove their citizenship and identity with a passport or an alternative to a passport, including an enhanced driver’s license or other documents.
(See story below.)
Demand for passports soared this year as a result of the first-step requirement for air travelers.
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.
