Over the weekend before Congress left for its election recess, it extended the WHTI passport and pass card deadlines for traveling across the U.S. border by sea and land until no later than June 1, 2009. The extension was part of the 2007 fiscal year Homeland Security Appropriations Bill approved by the House and Senate. The January 8, 2007 deadline requiring passports for traveling by air were left unchanged. The State Department could shorten the June 1, 2009 sea and land deadline if Passport Services can meet specific technology, administrative and personnel training requirements specified in the legislation before that date.
In a colloquy on the Senate floor, Senator Gregg, Chairman of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, states, “I wish to emphasize that the Departments of Homeland Security and State can move forward with the full implementation of WHTI before June I, 2009–but to do so they must comply with all legislated criteria. These legislated criteria are designed to ensure that the PASS Card protects the privacy of our citizens, that readers have been installed at all ports of entry, that all employees have been properly trained–in short, that the system works, before it is used by millions of citizens. And I emphasize that implementation, meaning putting the system into operation can occur at any time but no later than June 1, 2009.”
This entry was posted on Thursday, April 9th, 2009 at 11:25 am and is filed under Passport Rules. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.