Costs of changing U.S. passport system to reach $1 billion
Congress, DHS want Amercians traveling to Western Hemisphere countries to carry passports; the administration initially figured it would cost $289 million between 2006 and 2008 to handle the increase in demand for passports; in fact, it will cost about 1 billion
If it’s not one thing, it’s another. The bureacratic problems (huge backlog of applications) which slowed down the U.S. State Department’s plan to overhaul the U.S. passport system may have eased somewhat, but now there is another problem: Sticker shock. The estimated cost of ovehauling the U.S. passport system would be around $1 billion over the three-year transition period. The amount is more than three times the State Department’s original estimate. To raise the extra money, the department wants to keep a larger share of the money U.S. citizens pay to get passports —$20 for State instead of $6. Kurtis Cooper, a State Department spokesman, said the proposal will not increase the cost of passports to the public. A first-time applicant now pays about $100.
AP reports that the department initially figured it would cost $289 million between budget years 2006 and 2008 to handle the increase in demand for passports created by new security measures passed by Congress and implemented by DHS. Members of Congress were stunned by the new cost estimate, which covers the same period. “Incompetence and poor planning have not only inflicted high costs and personal angst on consumers, but are now likely to cost the State Department itself an astounding amount,” said Senator Charles Schumer (D-ew York). “Let us hope Homeland Security and the State Department can improve their coordination and avoid egregious mistakes.”
This year’s surge in passport applications stems from new rules that went into effect in January that require U.S. travelers to carry passports when flying to Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. A similar requirement is to go into effect for all land and sea crossings next year. The result was that compared to last year’s 12.1 million passports being procss by the State Department, this year, officials expect to process about 18 million. In trying to explain to Congress why the department was caught flatfooted by the surge in demand for passports, State Department officials said they were surprised so many Americans complied with the new law.
