WASHINGTON – Congressman John Tanner supported legislation passed by the House to ease the backlog that has made it hard for Tennesseans to receive passports for international travel. The legislation was unanimously passed by the House on a voice vote.

The Passport Backlog Reduction Act gives the State Department the authority to hire retired former staffers who are trained and authorized to process passport applications, which can currently take up to three months to process, Tanner said.

“We have heard from many Tennesseans in the past few months who have missed family vacations, school trips, mission trips and even honeymoons because of the inability of the State Department to handle the number of pending passport requests,” Tanner said. “This step will bring back some of the personnel who can help ease the backlog and assist passport applicants more quickly."

Tanner wrote a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on June 15 to express his constituents’ frustrations with the lengthy process and asking that she work to ease the backlog.

“Constituents in my district and Americans across the country are encountering maddening delays and have been unable to get direct answers about where their passports are in the processing system,” Tanner wrote in his letter. “In many cases, these people have taken time off work and spent large amounts of money to plan their trips. While the implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative has put an unprecedented strain on your passport offices, it is critical that you adequately improve processing efficiency to ensure that the State Department is meeting its obligation to American citizens.”

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Contact: Randy Ford, 202.225.4714