Senate Panel Delays Border-Card Rule
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved an amendment to halt the launch of a plan for a new border-crossing card for at least 17 months, in order to give the Departments of State and Homeland Security more time to fix its problems.
The bipartisan amendment passed Thursday and offered by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) mandates at least a 17-month shift in the launch of the land and sea components of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative from January 2008 to June 1, 2009.
The amendment was included in changes to the annual Homeland Security Appropriations Bill, after Leahy and Stevens lined up a formidable bipartisan coalition of support, according to Leahy’s office.
The certification requirements require the departments to:
• Ensure that the technology for any Passport Card (PASS Card) meets certain security standards, and that the National Institutes of Standards and Technology certify technology chosen by DHS and State;
• Share the technology with the governments of Canada and Mexico;
• Justify the fee set for the PASS Card. 4) Develop an alternative procedure for groups of children traveling across the border under adult supervision with parental consent;
• Install all necessary technological infrastructure at the ports of entry to process the cards and train U.S. agents at the border crossings in all aspects of the new technology;
• Make the PASS Card available for international land and sea travel between the United States and Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean and Bermuda; and
• Establish a unified implementation date for all sea and land borders.
