Hillary Clinton: Senator Clinton, Colleagues Call for Prompt Action in Remedying Passport Delays

Call on Department of State to Outline Steps Being Taken to Fix Broken System

June 19, 2007 -- Washington, DC – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton today joined several of her Senate colleagues in expressing concern about extensive delays in processing and delivering passports. The delays are the result of a sharp increase in demand for passports as a result of implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI).

In a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Senator Clinton and her colleagues asked that the State Department immediately develop and implement a plan to eliminate the current backlog in passport applications, immediately cease to charge unwarranted expedition and delivery fees for passports, and restore normal processing times and explain how the Department intends to deal with the potentially large numbers of people applying for passports if they continue with their plans to implement WHTI at the Northern and Southern Borders.

“If the State Department can’t handle the volume of passport applications for vacationers, I am very concerned about how they will be able to handle the additional volume if they proceed with their requirement to provide passports at the Northern Border,” Senator Clinton said.

In addition to significant delays, the State Department is also charging expedition and delivery fees to applicants, despite the fact that the delays were caused by the Department itself.

“It is entirely unfair that the State Department is requiring expedition fees to speed up delays of their own making. Families should not be faced with inexcusable delays and hefty fees as a result of the Department’s own failings,” Senator Clinton said.

[A copy of the letter sent by Senator Clinton and her colleagues follows]

June 15, 2007

The Honorable Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520

Dear Secretary Rice:

We write to express serious concerns with delays in processing passport applications that are seriously complicating – and in some cases forcing the cancellation of – travel abroad.

In recent weeks, significant and increasing numbers of our constituents have contacted us for help in receiving passports due to long processing delays that threaten imminent travel plans. These travelers applied for passports well in advance of their planned travel. However, due to the large volume of passport requests associated with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), they are not receiving completed passports sufficiently in advance of their planned departure dates to complete planning for their travels. In an unfortunate and rising number of these cases, our constituents have not received their passports in time, forcing them to cancel long-held travel plans and/or incur significant expenses to change their plans.

It is our understanding that the there are now more than 2 million passport applications pending. In fact, passport office staff are so overwhelmed that they are unable to respond to routine status requests, and have asked that inquiries be e-mailed with the planned departure date in the subject line, since they are only able to work on the most urgent requests – those closest to the planned departure date. This virtually ensures that many travelers will receive their passports only at the last minute, making it impossible to make informed decisions on whether to stick with the planned itinerary (and risk having to cancel if the passport does not arrive) or to postpone the planned departure (and incur steep fees for changing the itinerary).

To add insult to injury, we have recently been asked to provide constituents’ credit card numbers when making inquiries on their behalf, because your Department intends to charge them for expediting passport processing and for sending them their passports via Federal Express. Neither charge would be necessary if your Department were processing the original applications in a timely manner. It seems grossly unfair to charge American taxpayers extra for remedying problems that were caused by the government itself.

We are not in any way casting blame on the front line employees of your agency who process passport applications. It has been our experience that they have been working long and hard to ensure that travelers receive their passports prior to planned departures. However, it is clear that they are simply overwhelmed by the sheer volume of applications resulting from the implementation of the air and ship passenger provisions of the WHTI.

It is unacceptable that American citizens are missing trips because your Department did not anticipate the increase in passport applications and take appropriate action to increase processing resources. Consequently, we ask that you take the following actions:

1) immediately cease to charge unwarranted expedition and delivery fees for passports;

2) immediately develop and implement a plan to eliminate the current backlog in passport applications and restore normal, pre-WHTI processing times; and

3) share with us your plans to ensure that a similar problem does not occur when the land border provisions of the WHTI requirements take effect, including any additional statutory authority or resources that your Department requires.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this important issue.

Source: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton

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