[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 107 (Friday, July 18, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1508]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    FOREIGN RELATIONS AUTHORIZATION ACT, FISCAL YEARS 2004 AND 2005

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                       HON. JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 15, 2003

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 1950) to 
     authorize appropriations for the Department of State for the 
     fiscal years 2004 and 2005, to authorize appropriations under 
     the Arms Export Control Act and the Foreign Assistance Act of 
     1961 for security assistance for fiscal years 2004 and 2005, 
     and for other purposes:

  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased today to speak in support 
of my amendment to H.R. 1950, the State Department Authorization bill, 
which expresses the sense of the Congress that the Secretary of State 
should provide adequate resources to United States Embassies and 
Consular Offices in order to meet the workload requirements for visa 
application processing.
  The State Department recently issued a rule requiring nearly all visa 
applicants who wish to come to the United States for travel, business, 
or study to have personal interviews at Embassies or Consular Offices. 
This rule will significantly increase the amount of work and time 
Embassies and Consulates must give to each visa applicant. In Fiscal 
Year 2002, nearly 5.8 million business and tourist visas were issued 
and it is estimated that, in some countries, as few as 20 percent of 
applicants were required to be interviewed. While I support necessary 
security precautions, this new rule will clearly result in months of 
backlogs that could seriously jeopardize American business, education, 
and tourism unless these offices are provided with adequate resources 
and personnel to handle the increased workload.
  Unfortunately, the Secretary of State has expressed to U.S. Embassies 
and Consulates that he ``expects and accepts that many posts will face 
processing backlogs for the indefinite future.'' Furthermore, the 
message from the State Department in Washington, DC, is that, while 
posts can request more personnel, for the most part, they ``must 
implement the new interview guidelines using existing resources. Posts 
should not, repeat not, use overtime to deal with additional workload 
requirements.''
  Requiring our Foreign Service officers to take on a vastly increased 
workload without also providing the resources necessary to support that 
work may actually undermine our national security. It is unclear that 
overworked staff who are forced to conduct personal interviews with 
thousands of visa applicants will be able to adequately identify 
terrorists and other potentially harmful visitors in what are 
reportedly two to three minute interviews. Instead, these workers will 
be more likely to miss important details in visa applications as they 
rush to keep up with additional work requirements. Only by providing 
sufficient resources to meet the new interview requirements can we 
ensure that the steps we take to implement more stringent security 
protections will effectively safeguard our Nation from those who may 
wish to do us harm.
  Furthermore, if we are to remain a respected nation and an ally to 
countries around the world, it is critical that people be able to 
travel to the United States for business and pleasure without 
unnecessary hurdles of burdens. It is also critical for our economy, 
which depends on tourism and on conducting business with foreign 
nationals in order to stay strong, that people be able to travel to the 
United States without unnecessary inconveniences. Long wait times and 
growing backlogs of visa applications will serve to do the opposite and 
discourage people from coming to the United States to spend money and 
conduct business.
  I have heard from my constituents of people missing business 
meetings, important family events, and opportunities to study at 
American universities because it took too long for their visa 
application to be processed. For example, we have heard about three 
month waiting periods in Israel, one of our closest allies, which 
prevented a young Israeli from coming to the U.S. to work as a camp 
counselor. In another example, a group of Indian performers who were 
set to tour the United States will miss their performance in Chicago 
this weekend because they were not approved in time. And three people 
from Jakarta will miss their business meeting next week because their 
visa was not accepted in time. Finally, a young man had to postpone a 
wedding reception he had been planning for months because visa backlogs 
prevented his fiancee from getting to the United States from South 
Korea in time.
  It is because of situations like these and countless others that we 
must provide our Embassies and Consulates with adequate resources to 
meet the needs of visa applicants. It is because of our national 
security interests that we must provide our Foreign Service officers 
the resources they need to do their jobs well. I am pleased that this 
amendment was accepted into the en bloc amendment, and I thank Chairman 
Hyde and Ranking Member Lantos for their support.

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