US border passport regs may be suspended

[babylonsister]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070608/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_passports;_ylt=AmZ4Lmvbq1bpe8eVPEPMJnGs0NUE

US border passport regs may be suspended

By DEVLIN BARRETT and JENNIFER TALHELM, Associated Press Writers Fri Jun 8, 4:15 AM ET

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration plans to suspend some of its new, post-Sept. 11 requirements for traveling abroad, hoping to placate Congress and irate summer travelers who've had their vacations thwarted by delays in processing their passports.

An announcement could come as early as Friday, according to officials and lawmakers briefed on the matter.

The proposal would temporarily lift a requirement that U.S. passports be used for air travel to and from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda, several lawmakers said Thursday.

The suspension would allow the State Department to catch up with a massive surge in applications that has overwhelmed passport processing centers since the rule took effect this year. The resulting backlog has caused up to three-month delays for passports and ruined or delayed the travel plans of thousands of Americans.

Under the proposal, travelers would have to present a State Department receipt, showing they had applied for a passport, and government-issued identification, such as a driver's license.

Those without passports would receive additional security scrutiny, which could include extra questioning or bag checks, according to one official familiar with the discussions.

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[sinkingfeeling]

1. Will they spin this as another Bush administration act of 'steely conviction'?

[babylonsister]

2. I don't think so. My DH works next to the passport office in downtown

Houston. The lines surrounding that building have been going on for weeks! I think it's a straightforward case of, again, incompetence and poor planning. I know there were a whole lot of people in those lines that were not happy campers.