[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 133 (Friday, August 1, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S5236]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 3460. Ms. ROSEN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
her to the bill S. 2296, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2026 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the end of subtitle F of title X, add the following:
SEC. 1067. REPORT ON VISA OPERATIONS.
(a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date of
the enactment of the Act, the Secretary of State shall submit
to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives
a report on visa backlogs and the feasibility of providing
priority visas to nationals of countries that are of
strategic importance to the tourism industry of the United
States.
(b) Elements.--The report required by subsection (a) shall
address the following:
(1) The status of visa backlogs and wait times, including
internal and external recommendations to streamline and
improve consular processes, as required by the joint
exploratory statement for the Department of State, Foreign
Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act (division
F of Public Law 118-47; 138 Stat. 729), including the
rationale and justification for the implementation of each
such recommendation.
(2) The impact of reductions in force on improvement of the
overall efficiency of consular operations, processing time,
and customer experience for applicants.
(3) The extent to which Department of State personnel,
other than consular personnel, have been used to improve the
overall efficiency of consular operations, processing time,
and customer experience for visa applicants during periods of
high demand.
(4) The viability of temporarily assigning Department of
State personnel, other than consular personnel, to consular
operations during periods of high demand for visa processing.
(5) The extent to which the use of technology, including
artificial intelligence, may alleviate visa backlogs.
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