REP. TANNER, HOUSE BOOST
BORDER SECURITY, PASSPORT SERVICE

WASHINGTON – The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to provide $1.3 billion for border security and fund 122 new passport officials to help with a backlog of U.S. citizens’ passport applications, Congressman John Tanner said.

A backlog of passport requests has caused many Tennesseans to miss their travel plans, Tanner wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

“My office has heard countless accounts of people missing family vacations, mission trips and even their honeymoons because their passports did not arrive in time,” Tanner wrote in his June 15 letter to Sec. Rice. “[I]t is critical that you adequately improve processing efficiency to ensure that the State Department is meeting its obligation to American citizens.”

Tanner represents Tennessee’s 8^th Congressional district in West and Middle Tennessee. He serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and as chairman of the U.S. delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

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Contact: Randy Ford, 202.225.4714