[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 172 (Wednesday, November 20, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H6123-H6125]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY OF STATE TO DESIGNATE ADDITIONAL PERSONS
ELIGIBLE TO SERVE AS PASSPORT ACCEPTANCE AGENTS
Mr. MOYLAN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 8234) to authorize the Secretary of State to designate
additional persons eligible to serve as passport acceptance agents, and
for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 8234
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY OF STATE TO DESIGNATE
ADDITIONAL PERSONS ELIGIBLE TO SERVE AS
PASSPORT ACCEPTANCE AGENTS.
Section 6109(b) of the National Defense Authorization Act
for Fiscal Year 2024 (22 U.S.C. 213a(b)) is amended--
(1) by redesignating paragraph (6) as paragraph (7); and
(2) by inserting after paragraph (5) the following:
``(6) A United States citizen who, as determined by the
Secretary, is employed by and provides services through a
reputable, established company or institution and is
commissioned or appointed as a notary or notary public or
otherwise authorized to perform a notarization under the laws
of a State, district, or territorial government.''.
SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO HAND-CARRY COURIER SERVICES
FOR PASSPORT APPLICATIONS AND PASSPORTS.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of State shall take such
actions as may be necessary to--
(1) facilitate an increase in the number of companies
certified to provide hand-carry courier services; and
(2) increase the daily maximum number of applications for
United States regular passports, by service type, that such
companies may submit to a passport agency of the Department
of State (commonly referred to as ``meeting slots'') as part
of the hand-carry courier services of such company.
(b) Hand-carry Courier Service Defined.--In this section,
the term ``hand-carry courier service'' means--
(1) the transport of applications for United States
passports to a passport agency of the Department of State for
processing; and
(2) the retrieval of newly issued United States passports
for delivery, directly or indirectly, to the passport holder.
SEC. 3. DATE OF EXPIRATION OF UNITED STATES PASSPORTS.
The Secretary of State shall take such actions as may be
necessary to provide that each United States regular passport
issued or renewed on or after the date that is 180 days after
the date of the enactment of this Act expires on the same
month and day of the month as the date of birth of the
individual associated with such passport.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Guam (Mr. Moylan) and the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Manning)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Guam.
General Leave
Mr. MOYLAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
[[Page H6124]]
may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and
include extraneous material on this measure.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Guam?
There was no objection.
Mr. MOYLAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, millions of Americans use U.S. passports as their
official travel documents each year. Passports are what open doors to
faraway foreign destinations.
The problem, though, is that certain Americans are having a difficult
time applying for them. What should be a simple administrative step is
anything but.
That is where my colleague Mr. Mast's bill comes in. H.R. 8234 would
level the playing field, assisting those Americans who currently face
unnecessary obstacles.
First, the bill would authorize new institutions to serve as passport
acceptance agents. Passport acceptance is the process of verifying the
applicant's identification documents.
Currently, most civilian passport acceptance is done by designated
employees of the U.S. Postal Service. With the recent closure of many
U.S. post offices and with fewer post offices offering passport
services, however, access points for passport acceptance have been
significantly reduced. This reduction has led to delays in some
citizens' ability to schedule a passport appointment.
We feel this acutely on Capitol Hill. Scarcely a day goes by when
Members of Congress like myself do not hear from frustrated
constituents experiencing some sort of passport problem.
{time} 1230
Allowing new entities, like public notaries, to become passport
acceptance agents will ensure that the citizen application process is
easier, faster, and more seamless. For example, if the notaries at all
UPS Stores and AAA Travel offices nationwide were to become registered
passport acceptance agents, then the number of passport acceptance
sites would increase by 10,000 locations.
The second thing this bill would do is assist Americans in rural
areas and nonmajor cities apply for their passports. The so-called
hand-carry courier program helps citizens who otherwise would be unable
to travel to a passport agency due to time, cost, or distance
constraints. Through the program, they would be able to secure an
urgent or emergency passport using a third-party registered agent.
H.R. 8234 would allow for more companies to participate in the hand-
carry program. By expanding the program, we make emergency passports
more readily available to citizens who need them, especially for those
who don't live in or near a major city.
Finally, Mr. Mast's bill would align a passport's expiration date
with the applicant's birthday, making it easier for him or her to
remember when it is time to renew. This will help reduce the
application spikes surrounding popular travel seasons and prevent new
backlogs and delays.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join in supporting H.R. 8234,
which is an important step in making passport services more accessible
and more reliable, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. MANNING. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in strong support of H.R. 8234. As the world has reopened
following the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for passports last year
skyrocketed, leading to significant delays. Under Secretary of State
Antony Blinken's leadership and the tireless efforts of consular
officials, the State Department successfully tackled this backlog and
restored processing times to prepandemic levels. Moreover, this
administration has partnered closely with Congress to advance
modernization of the Department's consular processing to be better
prepared to handle future surges in demand.
The provisions in H.R. 8234 aim to further strengthen our passport
processing infrastructure, particularly to help ensure that all
Americans, especially those in rural or remote areas, have reasonably
convenient access to passport services. This includes permissive
authorities for the Department of State to better enable applicants to
utilize private couriers, access passport acceptance agents, and
remember to renew their passports before expiry. These provisions can
help those in underserved communities who may not have a passport
acceptance facility nearby.
There is no single solution to the challenges in providing passport
and visa services at a sustained and high level, and the Department's
efforts must be driven not by the preferences of courier companies or
potential new acceptance agents but by the Americans who need
passports.
We must work together and in a smart way to ensure the State
Department has the authorities and resources it needs to carry out its
mission securely and efficiently with respect to passport processing,
and H.R. 8234 can help provide additional practical tools, where and as
necessary, to improve service delivery and meet the needs of American
travelers.
Therefore, I encourage my colleagues to support this bill, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. MOYLAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Mast), who is the chair of the Oversight and
Accountability Subcommittee.
Mr. MAST. Mr. Speaker, I thank all of my colleagues for their work
and support on H.R. 8234.
It is a bill to reduce the passport barriers that American travelers
face with just a few commonsense solutions to help make it a more
seamless process for Americans and a more intuitive process for when
their passport might expire. It would help prevent the emergency
situations that all of us as Members of Congress face for our
constituents to get the passports they need.
Getting a passport, for many, is the closest that Americans will get
to seeing the work of our State Department, and when they see delays
and backlogs, that shakes their confidence in what they believe the
State Department and many of our other institutions can do.
The backlog is especially troublesome for our citizens who live in
rural areas without easy access to the few passport agencies or centers
that we have around the country.
If the State Department can't get those small things done right now
in a timely fashion and competent way, then it is hard to convince the
American people that the State Department can handle bigger things--
except a passport is not a small thing for most people, most families,
and most individuals. For our constituents, that is a business trip,
family vacation, wedding, or, God forbid, funeral.
We urgently need reforms to address the passport backlog and prevent
any future backlog from occurring.
H.R. 8234 enhances U.S. passport applicants' customer experience in
three ways that have been mentioned already.
First, it authorizes the Secretary of State to allow qualified
notaries to accept and certify the relevant paperwork. Certify doesn't
mean that they are issuing a passport. It means they are identifying
that all the t's have been crossed, the i's have been dotted, and the
blanks are filled in so that the application doesn't get kicked back by
the State Department.
Currently, citizens who live in rural areas need to mail in their
paperwork or try to get to a certain employee in a place like the post
office. They have few or inconsistent hours to actually go see those
individuals, and it delays their application process. By expanding the
number of people who can accept and certify the paperwork to include
these qualified notaries, we greatly expand the options for Americans
who do not live near these passport acceptance centers.
Second, my bill requires the State Department to devote more
resources to nontraditional applicants--again, often from rural areas--
who utilize private courier services for emergency passport services.
Since 2007, the number of slots these private courier services have to
process Americans' applications has decreased, while the number of
Americans who live at least 250 miles away from a passport acceptance
office has substantially increased over that same period of time.
These services are an effective alternative for Americans who need
urgent passports and don't live near those offices, and expanding these
resources will help serve the citizens by adjusting to population
migration patterns
[[Page H6125]]
that we have seen over the last two decades.
Finally, my bill would make it easier for Americans to remember to
renew their passports by changing the passport expiration dates to
coincide with their birthdays, just like most of us do with our
driver's licenses. This simple change in awareness will make it so that
many people remember to renew their passports early instead of
realizing it at the last second because it is not on an intuitive date,
which leads to the surges in applicants in the system and creates those
backlogs.
Mr. Speaker, I thank all of my colleagues for their work on this
legislation, and I urge adoption of this bill.
Ms. MANNING. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time for
the purpose of closing.
The Department of State's passport application processing has shown
welcomed improvement. The bipartisan provisions in this bill would help
them make even more progress and connect more Americans to a U.S.
passport.
By helping the State Department increase access and meet higher
demand, I hope we can prove that the government can adapt and work
faster.
Mr. Speaker, I support this bill, and I hope we can advance further
measures to support consular services in a bipartisan fashion, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. MOYLAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, we need to make passport services more accessible to
Americans who don't live in major cities. This bill, H.R. 8234, would
actually do that by authorizing new actors like public notaries to
serve as passport acceptance agents.
It would also allow more companies to participate in the hand-carry
courier program and open up slots for those companies at passport
agency offices across the country.
Americans who don't live in major cities shouldn't have to have a
harder time getting travel documents than anyone else.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield
back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Guam (Mr. Moylan) that the House suspend the rules and
pass the bill, H.R. 8234, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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