[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 81 (Monday, June 14, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H3908-H3910]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  MODIFYING CERTAIN DEADLINES FOR MACHINE-READABLE, TAMPER-RESISTANT 
                        ENTRY AND EXIT DOCUMENTS

  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass 
the bill (H.R. 4417) to modify certain deadlines pertaining to machine-
readable, tamper-resistant entry and exit documents.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 4417

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

     SECTION 1. MODIFICATION OF CERTAIN DEADLINES FOR MACHINE-
                   READABLE, TAMPER-RESISTANT ENTRY AND EXIT 
                   DOCUMENTS.

       Section 303 of the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry 
     Reform Act of 2002 (8 U.S.C. 1732) is amended, in each of 
     subjections (b)(2)(A), (c)(1), and (c)(2), by striking 
     ``2004,'' and inserting ``2005,''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. 
Kildee) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. 
Sensenbrenner).


                             General Leave

  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend 
their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 4417.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Wisconsin?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4417. The Visa Waiver Program 
allows travelers from certain designated countries to come to the 
United States as temporary visitors without having to obtain a non-
immigrant visa. There are currently more than 10 million foreign 
visitors entering the United States every year under this program.
  Since its creation in 1986, the program has greatly facilitated 
travel to the United States from participating foreign countries. 
Through reciprocal arrangements, American international travelers also 
benefit with greater ease of travel.
  The Visa Waiver Program was established on the premise that nationals 
from participating countries pose little security risk or threat of 
overstaying their period of admittance, which under the current program 
is a maximum of 90 days. After the tragic events of September 11, we 
recognize that a traveler from a visa waiver country can pose a serious 
threat, especially when the country of origin differs from the country 
that issues the passport used to enter our country.
  It was, in part, to address threats like this that I offered the 
Enhanced Visa Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002. The act 
requires the Visa

[[Page H3909]]

Waiver Program countries to certify that they have established systems 
to issue their nationals machine-readable passports that are tamper-
resistant and incorporate biometric identifiers that comply with the 
biometric identifier standards established by the International Civil 
Aviation Organization.
  The act sets a firm deadline of October 26, 2004, after which anyone 
applying for admission to the United States under the program, with 
passports issued after that date, must present a passport that meets 
these standards or otherwise obtain a visa from a United States embassy 
or consulate overseas.
  This requirement will close several security loopholes. First, it 
will allow the Department of Homeland Security inspectors at ports-of-
entry to determine whether a passport properly identifies its bearer. 
This will combat terrorist imposters and prevent them from defeating 
lookout lists on which they are posted.
  Second, it will make passports much harder to alter or counterfeit.
  Third, in conjunction with the installation of scanners at ports-of-
entry to read these passports and the completion of exit controls, the 
DHS can track the arrival and departure of travelers and identify those 
who overstay their visas.
  My goal as author of this act in selecting the October 2004 deadline 
was to compel countries to act promptly to modernize their passports. I 
have written to the foreign governments participating in the Visa 
Waiver Program to ascertain how soon they will be ready to issue 
biometric passports. I regret that most visa waiver countries will not 
meet the October 2004 deadline.
  However, many are making significant progress and have indicated that 
the October 2005 deadline is reachable. An example is Belgium, which 
had one of the weakest passport regimes in Europe, and now has so 
completely revised its approach that it is the first visa waiver 
country to meet the new biometric requirements. Belgium has also 
recently won the Interpol award for the best passport security. 
Likewise, Austria, Denmark and Slovenia have working prototypes of 
biometric passports and will begin issuing them as soon as the European 
Union sets its internal standards for member countries.
  Nonetheless, the Secretaries of Homeland Security and State have 
testified before the House Committee on the Judiciary that most visa 
waiver countries are still resolving privacy issues, chip durability 
concerns and production and procurement delays. Accordingly, they asked 
for legislation to extend the biometric passport deadline.
  To minimize the risk of extending the deadline, the administration 
has initiated security procedures that begin in September of this year. 
Specifically, the Department of Homeland Security will begin 
fingerprinting each traveler from the Visa Waiver Program countries so 
as to strengthen current abbreviated inspection process for visa waiver 
travelers.
  H.R. 4417 simply extends the October 26, 2004, deadline by one year. 
While this extension provides more time to meet the requirement, this 
additional breathing space should not lead visa waiver countries nor 
our own government to become complacent.
  The committee will conduct bipartisan oversight to ensure that the 
Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security are working 
as hard as they can to get their own systems ready to validate 
biometric passports when they are presented at ports-of-entry. While 
the visa waiver countries are committing their resources and 
intellectual talent to comply with our new requirements for identity, 
our own government should do no less.
  I also expect that the State Department will step up pressure on visa 
waiver countries to meet the new October 2005 deadline instead of 
providing erroneous assurances that Congress will again provide an 
extension should they fail to meet the new date.

                              {time}  1645

  On the other hand, it is also crucial that we enact this legislation 
expeditiously in order to provide our own travel and tourism industry 
the certainty they need to plan events for the coming months that 
involve large numbers of travelers from the visa waiver countries.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that the gentleman from Wisconsin (Chairman 
Sensenbrenner) and I can join forces to make a necessary adjustment in 
our immigration and homeland security laws that would ensure that the 
millions of Americans who work in the travel industry do not suffer 
while we continue to improve new immigration security technologies.
  Today we are considering legislation to extend by 1 year the 
requirement that travelers from visa waiver countries present biometric 
machine-readable passports at United States ports of entry. A 1-year 
extension will allow business visitors and tourists from the 27 nations 
in the visa waiver program to continue to make plans for the near 
future with currently valid passports and travel to the United States 
while technology is improved.
  Using biometric passports will make us safer, but only if the 
technology is effective, durable, and part of a globally interoperable 
system that is compatible between nations. A 1-year extension will give 
Congress and the State Department more time to assess the very 
important questions of protecting privacy and ensuring efficient 
processing, while continuing to make serious steps toward a system that 
will secure our ports and national security.
  As we balance serious threats to national security with our needs to 
protect our liberty, we must adhere to our fundamental values as an 
open society. Most visitors come with goodwill, contribute to our 
economy, share their knowledge, learn about our culture, and spread the 
promise of democracy and freedom around the world.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Chairman Sensenbrenner) and me in supporting this 
legislation to ensure that the benefit of travel and exchange are not 
lost in the war on terror.
  Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support and as a cosponsor of 
H.R. 4417, which will extend for one year the deadline for countries to 
continue eligibility in our Visa Waiver Program by issuing passports 
which are both machine-readable and also include biometric identifiers.
  I do so with a clear focus on tourism, the primary industry in my 
state. According to the State of Hawaii Department of Business, 
Economic Development and Tourism, in 2002, tourists spent more than $11 
billion during their vacations in the state. A significant part of 
these expenditures come from international tourists. And while 
facilitated international travel is essential not only to recreational 
tourism, it is also key to international commerce, especially from 
Asia, and to the education in Hawaii of foreign nationals, a major and 
growing component of our economy.
  Each day, thousands of visitors arrive to Hawaii from foreign 
destinations, including those countries in the Visa Waiver Program 
(VWP). The tourism industry not only in my state, but every state in 
the Nation, faces grave consequences if this extension is not granted. 
According to the State Department, if the deadline is not extended, it 
expects to process an additional 5 million visas in 2005 alone. This 
will cripple our embassies and consulates worldwide, compound the 
existing program of visa issuance, and spell great hardship not only 
for the travel industry but also business and commerce in general 
throughout the United States.
  The Patriot Act justifiably legislated the machine-readable passport 
requirement for VWP travelers, and additionally gave the Secretary of 
State authority to postpone the effective date. However, the Secretary 
of State lacks further authority to extend the deadline on his own. The 
Secretary of State, working with the Secretary of Homeland Security, 
has granted a postponement only until October 26, 2004 of the date by 
which VWP travelers from 21 countries must present a machine-readable 
passport at a U.S. port of entry to be admitted to the United States 
without a visa. Another year is needed; only Congress can extend the 
deadline, and we must do so passing this legislation today.
  While most of the VWP countries are located in Western Europe, there 
are several countries in the Asia-Pacific Rim which will benefit from 
an extension of the October 26, 2004 deadline, including Australia, New 
Zealand, Singapore, Brunei, and Japan. These are the countries of most 
concern to my home.
  Mr. Speaker, I share some additional thoughts from key officials 
within my State's tourism industry. The Director of the State of Hawaii 
Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism, Mr. Theodore 
E. Liu,

[[Page H3910]]

recently wrote that his department is ``in total support of extending 
[the deadline of] the Visa Waiver Program countries to have machine 
readable passports.'' The President and Chief Executive Officer of the 
Hawaii Tourism Agency, Mr. Rex D. Johnson, wrote that the 
implementation of ``the program before countries are ready to comply 
would undoubtedly create mass confusion in international travel.''
  To be clear, I support the overall requirement of machine-readable 
passports as well as the use of biometrics on travel documents, both 
American and international. And I call upon the executive branch to 
place biometrics upon a machine-readable American passport as quickly 
as possible, because biometrics can assist not only our country, but 
every country, to ensure that the person listed on the passport is the 
same person who presents the passport upon entering the country. As a 
biometric identifier is an electronic scan of a physical feature or 
features, including an eye, hand, fingerprint, or face, use of a 
biometric identifier allows an immigration inspector to know for 
certain that the person appearing before him or her is the same person 
to whom a passenger or visa was issued.
  But, Mr. Speaker, given the current situation, we must extend the 
deadline at least this one year. I therefore agree with the proposal of 
chairman and ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, the chairman 
and ranking member of the International Relational Committee, and 
others, and implore my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the visa waiver program (VWP) 
allows nationals from 27 countries to enter the United States as 
nonimmigrant visitors for business or pleasure without first obtaining 
a visa from a U.S. consulate office. This facilitates international 
travel and commerce and eases consular office workloads. Last year, 
approximately 13.5 million visitors entered the United States under 
this program.
  The Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 
mandated that by October 26, 2004, the government of each VWP country 
must certify that it has established a program to issue machine-
readable passports that are tamper-resistant and incorporate a 
biometric identifier. This only would apply to new passports that are 
issued after the October 26, 2004, deadline.
  While all 27 VWP countries have a program in place to develop a 
machine readable, biometric passport, few of the countries will be in a 
position to start issuing them by the deadline. The required technical 
and interoperability standards have not yet been completed by the 
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Preliminary ICAO 
standards were released in May 2003, but they failed to address some 
key issues, including interoperable chip security standards and 
interoperable reader standards. Also, ICAO's decision to make facial 
recognition technology the standard passport biometric was not made 
until May 2003, leaving VWP countries only 17 months to move a 
biometric passport from design to production, a process that normally 
takes years. It is apparent that very few VWP countries will be able to 
meet the deadline for incorporating the biometric identifiers. H.R. 
4417 would extend the deadline for one year. If more time is needed, we 
can revisit the issue when that deadline approaches.

  If the deadline is not extended, the participating countries that 
fail to meet it will lose the privilege of participating in the 
program, and the nationals of those countries will need visas to enter 
the United States. The State Department has estimated that this would 
result in the need to process an additional 5 million visas.
  I am concerned about the effect that even a temporary disruption of 
the visa waiver program could have on the international tourist 
industry. In the year 2000, the State of Texas alone received revenue 
from the international tourist industry that totaled $3,751.3 million. 
This included $410.6 million on public transportation, $111.1 million 
on automobile transportation, $1,029.2 million on lodging, $731.4 
million on food services, $320.2 million on entertainment and 
recreation, and $1,148.9 million in general trade. The numbers for the 
entire country would be much larger. A major reduction in such revenue 
would have an adverse impact on the economy of our country.
  Consequently, I urge you to vote for H.R. 4417 to extend the 
deadline.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation.
  I want to thank the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee for his 
leadership in this area. The visa waiver program is a critically 
important program, under which countries that send citizens that do not 
engage in visa fraud or overstay their visas do not have to obtain 
visas to visit our country for business or tourism. It has proven to be 
a very effective program for dealing with the increased global travel 
of the past few decades.
  However, I firmly agree with my good friend from Wisconsin that 
citizens from countries who do not have to go through the visa process 
should have secure, tamper-proof passports to ensure that the visa 
waiver program is not abused by individuals who try to enter our 
country with counterfeit passports. Indeed, the statutory deadline of 
October 26, 2004 in the Enhanced Border Security Act of May 2002 
encouraged International Civil Aviation Organization to accelerate its 
ongoing efforts in the development of uniform standards for secure 
passports, including the use of biometric data in such passports. Given 
the progress so far, I have no objection to an extension of this 
current statutory deadline to allow countries to implement these 
standards.
  However, I believe that the Congress should seriously consider a two-
year extension rather than the one-year extension in the current bill. 
I understand that ICAO did not complete preliminary biometric standards 
using facial recognition technology until May 2003 and is on only now 
finalizing these standards. In order for the new passports and the 
technology needed to read these passports to become mature and to be 
fully tested, as well as producing the new passports and acquiring and 
deploying the devices necessary to read the new passports, more than 
the one year extension being approved today may well be necessary.
  In this context, I think it may well be prudent to consider moving 
towards a two-year extension as this legislation moves through the 
legislative process, and I would support that approach. if we do not, I 
predict we will be back here at the same time next year, approving a 
further one year extension.
  I want to once again thank my good friend from Wisconsin for his 
leadership on this issue and urge my colleagues to support this 
legislation at this time.
  Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I also have no further requests for 
time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Petri). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) that the 
House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4417.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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