[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2177 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2177

   To direct the payment of passport fees to the Department of State.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 14, 2011

Mr. Higgins (for himself and Ms. Hochul) introduced the following bill; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

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                                 A BILL


 
   To direct the payment of passport fees to the Department of State.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Passport Acquisition Savings and 
Security Act of 2011'' or the ``PASS Act of 2011''.

SEC. 2. PAYMENT OF PASSPORT FEES.

    (a) In General.--Section 1(a) of the Act of June 4, 1920 (22 U.S.C. 
214(a)), is amended, in the first sentence, by striking ``into the 
Treasury of the United States'' and inserting ``to the Department of 
State''.
    (b) Retention of Fees.--Any amount collected by the Department of 
State in fiscal year 2011 and each fiscal year thereafter as a fee for 
visas, passports, or other consular services may be credited as an 
offsetting collection to the appropriate Department of State 
appropriation, to remain available until expended, for the purpose of 
meeting the costs of providing such services and shall be available for 
the same purposes as the appropriation to which such amounts are 
credited.
    (c) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed 
to affect or limit in any manner any fees collected by local 
governments for the purposes of processing passport applications 
submitted to the Department of State.
    (d) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that new 
revenues directed to the Department of State under this Act should be 
used to reduce the costs of passports for consumers.
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