Salazar’s Passport Wait Time Reduction Bill Passes House of Representatives

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed the Passport System Reform and Backlog Prevention Act (H.R. 6610), legislation introduced by Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA). The bill reduces historically long wait times Americans face when renewing their passports by improving processing systems at the State Department.

“We are now four years after the start of the pandemic and the State Department is still behind on processing passports for my constituents. Two months for a passport is way too long,” said Rep. Salazar. “The House of Representatives is addressing an important issue that all Americans are still being forced to deal with. Let’s clean the mess up at the State Department and bring this critical service back to order.”

H.R. 6610 deploys numerous tools to address the problems that create passport backlogs while bolstering the State Department Bureau of Consular Affairs’ processing capabilities to streamline the application and processing experience for American travelers. The House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously passed the legislation in a markup hearing in December 2023.

Specifically, the Passport Issuance and Backlog Elimination Act will:

• Set a service standard of processing passport applications in 30 days after receipt of documents and creating a user-friendly experience;
• Provide surge hiring authorities to solve current and future backlogs;
• Mandate the expansion of the Online Passport Renewal system to accommodate first-time adult passport applications;
• Mandate a text and email notification system for application status and passport applications;
• Accelerate the passport renewal process by increasing use of software in passport adjudication;
• Require a top-to-bottom review of the passport issuance system by the Government Accountability Office;
• Accelerate the adoption of commercially available technology solutions by increasing the Bureau’s collaboration with the private sector; and
• Increase congressional oversight over State Department modernization efforts.

“The Passport System Reform and Backlog Prevention Act is the solution Americans deserve in the wake of a two-year-long passport backlog that impacted 50 million of our fellow citizens and still takes more than a month to process an application. With the House’s approval, we are now one step closer to transforming our flawed process, preventing future backlogs, and setting the system right for decades to come,” said Rep. Issa.

“American taxpayers shouldn’t have to face long delays to get their passport. It has impacted many of my constituents who have medical, work, and family obligations. This legislation takes a multi-approach towards tackling the backlog and modernizing our passport system,” said Rep. Costa.

The bill currently has 30 other cosponsors, including Reps. Jim Costa (D-CA), Nikema Williams (D-GA), Mike Lawler (R-NY), Warren Davidson (R-OH), Jenniffer González-Colón (R-PR), Brad Schneider (D-CA), Mike Collins (R-GA), Katie Porter (D-CA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Dina Titus (D-NV), Alma Adams (D-NC), Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), Brandon Williams (R-NY), Richard Hudson (R-NC), Chuy García (D-IL), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Roger Williams (R-TX), Grace Meng (D-NY), Hillary Scholten (D-MI), Lloyd Smucker (R-PA), Clay Higgins (R-LA), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-WA), Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ), Colin Allred (D-TX), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA), Tom Kean, Jr. (R-NJ), Mike Turner (R-OH), Joaquin Castro (D-TX), and Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA).

This is Rep. Salazar’s fourth bill to be passed in the House of Representatives this Congress, including two that became law.

The full text of the bill can be found here.

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