Delay of passport rule sought by Congress

By Devlin Barrett / Associated Press

Article Launched: 12/18/2007 12:00:00 AM MST

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 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.

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.

People have had two years to prepare for this and yet these politicians continue to react to the least common denominator. Forget that thousands have planned ahead, applied for and received their passports. These whining bureaucrats cater to and reward procrastinators and and the minority who do not want our border secured.