Congress moves to ease passport crisis
Help may be on the way to deal with the backlog of unprocessed passport requests. Legislation passed Monday by the House would make it easier for the State Department to rehire retired personnel to pitch in.


WASHINGTON - Help may be on the way to deal with the backlog of unprocessed passport requests. Legislation passed Monday by the House would make it easier for the State Department to rehire retired personnel to pitch in.

The bill, approved by voice vote, responds to the department's inability to cope with a deluge of passport applications this year, resulting in long processing delays and leaving many without passports needed for trips abroad.

The sharp increase in applications followed the January implementation of a law, enacted in 2004, requiring those returning by air from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda to present a passport.

The bill would grant the State Department flexibility to rehire, on a temporary basis, retired foreign service passport adjudicators. It would waive rules that deny pension payments to retirees returning to work when they exceed strict wage and hour caps.

The House bill makes slight changes to a Senate version that passed last month. The Senate could take up the House measure in the coming days, sending it to the president for his signature.

"Hopefully, this will get experienced people at their desks this summer to help people get their passports," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., sponsor of the Senate bill. The State Department has said it expects to hire back 50 to 100 adjudicators this year as a result of the legislation.

Passport applications were expected to approach 18 million this year in the wake of the new law aimed at tightening border controls and blocking those trying to enter the country illegally. About 12 million applications were received last year.