With Backlogs Growing Daily, Schumer Announces New Plan To Break The Months-Long Passport Application Logjam
Press Release
With Backlogs Growing Daily, Schumer Announces New Plan To Break The Months-Long Passport Application Logjam
Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced a new plan to counteract the growing chaos at overwhelmed passport processing centers that has caused interminable turnaround times for new passports. Against a backdrop of confusion and concern over new travel restrictions, Schumer said that the Department of State is receiving more than 1 million passport applications a month. The avalanche of requests has buried its staff and caused delays of up to a month during the peak January-to-April season when many people are preparing to travel over the spring and summer.
"The passport system is overheating, and if we don't give it some relief, it could wreak havoc for travelers across the country," Schumer said. "These delays are simply unacceptable and could disrupt the lives of thousands of Western New York travelers and businesses. It shouldn't take the State Department two and a half months to turn around a new passport for an average American." According to the State Department, applications for new passports and renewals received between October and this March have risen 44 percent over the same period in 2005-2006. As a result, the Department said routine passport processing could take 10 weeks instead of the previous six, and expedited processing could take four weeks instead of two weeks. About 12 million passport applications were processed in 2006 and as many as 17 million are expected this year, the department said.
Schumer said that the current bottleneck is affecting all stages of passport processing, from the initial scanning of an application through the adjudication of citizenship. The call center to assist people in Western New York and across the country with passport processing issues is also overwhelmed. In response, the State Department lengthened work hours and required overtime, but it is still crippled by a lack of qualified personnel who have undergone the background checks necessary to handle sensitive passport adjudications. It takes the Department anywhere between three months and a year to vet and train a new passport employee, but this security precaution leaves the Department with little flexibility to handle surges in demand like the current crisis.. "Sadly, this administration is unusually adept at imposing strict new guidelines and unusually inept when it comes to providing the resources necessary to meet them," said Schumer.
Today, Schumer announced his new plan to break the bottleneck and ensure that Western New York residents receive their passports as promised.
More Processors - Schumer said he will introduce new legislation to authorize the State Department to rehire, on a temporary basis, retired and fully trained passport processors to help existing processors manage the increased demand. Currently, retirees from the Civil Service and Foreign Service have little incentive to assist in crises because they lose retirement benefits if they exceed strict wage and hour caps. Schumer said the State Department has assured his office that they have a database of qualified retired processors at the ready who could be called up to help if the Department is granted this new authority to respond to crisis situations. The Department of State already has such authority but it is limited to personnel for Iraq and Afghanistan. Schumer's legislation would merely remove this geographic restriction and extend the hiring authorization from 2008 until 2010.
New Western New York Satellite Office - Schumer today also called on the Department of State to establish a new satellite expedited passport processing office in Western New York. This office would be able to turn around passport applications on-site in less than 24-hours. Such offices are currently located in major international travel hubs around the country. Schumer today sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying that the new office would allow Western New Yorkers a one-stop shop to receive of new passport without having to go through the onerous bureaucratic process.
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