GOP lawmakers want to eliminate passport backlog with sweeping reform bill: ‘Transformative approach’ – By Adam Shaw (FOX News) / Dec 6, 2023
Passport processing delays exacerbated by COVID-19 pandemic
Two Republican lawmakers are leading the charge on a sweeping reform bill aimed at clearing a passport processing backlog that regularly causes difficulties for Americans seeking to travel abroad – a bill that is believed to have a good chance of getting to President Biden’s desk.
Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Maria Salazar, R-Fla., are introducing the Passport System Reform and Backlog Prevention Act, which would aim to reduce processing times for passports, which have been a problem for years but have remained high since the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered offices and led to massive delays.
The authors say that the delay Americans currently face, which the State Department currently has at 7-10 weeks for regular processing, for a passport renewal is well behind other countries for processing, where online functionality and speed are more common. Processing times shot up during the COVID-19 pandemic and are not yet at the pre-pandemic levels, which the authors say was still high.
